Zach LaVine trade rumors are everywhere – There’s more excitement than teams’ actual interest in the two-time All-Star, who is averaging 22.6 points per game this season.
LaVine and his camp are ready to be driven out of Chicago and the Bulls are – finally! – open to breaking up a core that never worked the way they hoped (At least after Lonzo Ball’s injury). LaVine, for his part, wants to go to a competitor, reports Jake Fischer at Yahoo Sports.
LaVine and his representative hold several preferred landing spots, including the Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers, league sources told Yahoo Sports, and each team has registered some level of interest in the Bulls guard. According to sources, LaVine is also eyeing a move to the San Antonio Spurs to team up with rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama and reunite with head coach Gregg Popovich, who oversaw the 2020 Team USA, which LaVine helped lead in Tokyo to win a gold medal. According to sources, there are several other conflict situations that LaVine would like to join, one of them being Sacramento. The Kings signed LaVine on an offer list during his restricted free agency in 2018, but before this current Northern California front office regime took the reins.
The Toronto Raptors are also interested in LaVine, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic. They are not currently a contender and are not a team that LaVine might be interested in, but with three years left on his contract after this year, LaVine has very little leverage in this scenario to force a deal wherever he wants.
While LaVine has his list of teams, interest from those franchises is currently lukewarm, league sources told NBC Sports. The 76ers are off to a fast 9-3 start and — while they may need to add a shot creator at some point to be successful this season — they want to see how things develop and make any moves closer to the trade deadline .
Philadelphia also represents a lot of teams in that sense: It may have more interest in DeMar DeRozan or Alex Caruso than LaVine.
What’s got teams thinking about LaVine is his contract: Teams would have to cover the rest of the $40 million he’s owed this season, and then three more years later for a total of $138 million (the last season is a player option). While LaVine brings elite shooting and shooting from three to the table in his own right, he is a negative defender and is not viewed as someone with a well-rounded game. He is an All-Star player but must play a specific role for the team to be successful. Although he was healthy this season and played in 77 games last season, LaVine had knee problems before that, which teams remember.
In Miami’s case, a trade centered around Tyler Herro could happen, but the front office has to ask itself whether LaVine is so much better than Herro that it’s worth bringing in a player five years older than him at $13 million per season deserves more. With the Lakers unable to make a trade before December 15th (due to available players), they want to see how things pan out Any deal would have to be on their terms (which means Chicago doesn’t get a great return).
The Bulls may want to get something done sooner rather than later rather than let a cloud of rumors hang over the franchise, but the market may not cooperate. Any trading is likely to take place no later than December 15th, and closer to the close rather than soon.
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