{"id":58515,"date":"2023-11-11T12:32:59","date_gmt":"2023-11-11T17:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=58515"},"modified":"2023-11-11T12:32:59","modified_gmt":"2023-11-11T17:32:59","slug":"nba-rumors-teams-monitoring-the-potential-downfall-of-the-bulls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/11\/11\/nba-rumors-teams-monitoring-the-potential-downfall-of-the-bulls\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Rumors: Teams Monitoring the \u201cPotential Downfall\u201d of the Bulls"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Bulls are one of the most interesting teams in the league. They had a players only meeting after their opening night loss to the Thunder\u2014and are currently 3-6 to start the season. Now, according to ESPN\u2019s Brian Windhorst, teams are waiting on the Bulls\u2019 \u201cpotential downfall,\u201d hoping to acquire <\/span>Zach LaVine<\/b><\/a>, <\/span>DeMar DeRozan<\/b><\/a>, or other key pieces.<\/span><\/p>\n

NBA Rumors: Teams Monitoring the \u201cPotential Downfall\u201d of the Bulls<\/b><\/h2>\n

Background<\/b><\/h3>\n

Following the Bulls\u2019 rough start, <\/span>Windhorst appeared on ESPN\u2019s NBA Today<\/span><\/a> to note that \u201c<\/span>scouts are jamming themselves into Bulls games because they realize that at some point, the Bulls may break this team up.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

DeRozan had dismissed notions of a rebuild in September, telling SportsKeeda\u2019s Mark Medina<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>I think a lot of people who say that or suggest that really don\u2019t understand basketball at all, in my opinion. You can think that\u2019s an answer or that\u2019s a route. But there\u2019s no telling how long that route is going to even last. That route doesn\u2019t necessarily always work in a timely fashion that you may think it will take. With that, it\u2019s hard to find and create talented players like the players that we already have assembled.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, with LaVine in a contract year, a 34-year-old <\/span>Nikola Vucevic<\/b><\/a> not getting any younger, and talks of a DeRozan extension in limbo, the Bulls have key decisions to make in regards to their future.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Latest on DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine<\/b><\/h3>\n

DeRozan and LaVine would likely be the first ones to go in any major trade, and a plethora of teams could use their services.<\/span><\/p>\n

This season, DeRozan has averaged 21.4 points while shooting 43.6% from the field and 31.6% from deep. He\u2019s been just as electric in his three years in Chicago: 26 points, five rebounds and five assists on .501\/.337\/.872 splits. <\/span>A recent article from Bleacher Report\u2019s Erik Beaston<\/span><\/a> posited the 76ers as a potential destination for DeRozan prior to the <\/span>James Harden<\/b><\/a> trade. The Sixers\u2014currently leading the East with a 7-1 record\u2014may still be inclined to do a deal with their new assets.\u00a0 Beaston also mentioned the Grizzlies, Hawks, Pistons, Cavaliers and Timberwolves as other teams who could use DeRozan at the wing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zach LaVine has averaged 24.5 PPG on .471\/.384\/.836 splits in seven years as a Bull. He\u2019ll have just as many suitors as DeRozan, but one team he\u2019s often been linked to is the Lakers. The NBA Today hosts discussed whether LA should add a third star, with <\/span>Mike Wilbon advocating for LaVine to come home<\/span><\/a>. Many Lakers fans may be reluctant to go back to that idea after the catastrophe a couple of seasons ago. However, it\u2019s at least intriguing to pair LaVine\u2019s explosiveness and scoring with the likes of <\/span>LeBron James<\/b><\/a> and <\/span>Anthony Davis<\/b><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Key Role Players in Rumors<\/b><\/h3>\n

Aside from those two, teams will also have their eyes on the Bulls\u2019 supporting cast. Nikola Vucevic is a reliable big man who has averaged 16.3 points and 10.7 rebounds through the first nine games of the season. <\/span>Alex Caruso<\/b><\/a>\u2014whose stellar start has <\/span>warranted calls for DPOY consideration<\/span><\/a>\u2014could be one of the biggest names to hit the Bulls\u2019 trade market. He has averaged 7.8 points (.591\/.440\/.636), 3.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.6 steals. Additionally, point guards <\/span>Coby White<\/b><\/a> and <\/span>Jevon Carter<\/b><\/a> could also be in the mix given their solid contributions so far. The same goes for young wing <\/span>Patrick Williams<\/b><\/a> and veteran big man <\/span>Andre Drummond<\/b><\/a>. Winning teams could always use reliable role players, and some of them could acquire members of the Bulls rotation to put them in better situations.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Last Word on the Bulls<\/b><\/h3>\n

No matter how you look at it, it\u2019s conceivable that the Bulls could be holding a fire sale in a few months. They\u2019ve made the playoffs only twice in the last seven years, and are coming off of a 40-42 season. Unless things take a drastic turn, expect Chicago to be sellers at the trade deadline\u2014maybe even earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Bulls are one of the most interesting teams in the league. They had a players only meeting after their opening night loss to the Thunder\u2014and are currently 3-6 to start the season. Now, according to ESPN\u2019s Brian Windhorst, teams are waiting on the Bulls\u2019 \u201cpotential downfall,\u201d hoping to acquire Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":57581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,8,26,62,13,4721],"tags":[2037,341,1782,350,4908,474,3000,457],"class_list":["post-58515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-bulls","category-lakers","category-nba","category-76ers","category-trade-rumors","tag-alex-caruso","tag-andre-drummond","tag-coby-white","tag-demar-derozan","tag-jevon-carter","tag-nikola-vucevic","tag-patrick-williams","tag-zach-lavine"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}