In the third year of a $215.1 million contract that spans five years, LaVine counts $43 million against the cap.
The roster that the Chicago Bulls enter the 2024-25 season with may not look the same by the campaign’s end.
The Bulls have explored trade options for two-time All-Star Zach LaVine since the 2023 trade deadline but have encountered a barren trade market. They cannot fully lean into their current youth movement with him – or teammate Nikola Vucevic – on the roster.
Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz crafted a trade pitch that could help in an article from August 30.
The four-team deal would send LaVine to the San Antonio Spurs for a package including 2021-22 All-Rookie Second Team performer Bones Hyland.
Bulls get:
– Amir Coffey
– Bones Hyland
– Keldon Johnson
– Terance Mann
Los Angeles Clippers get:
– Bradley Beal
– 2031 first-round pick (via PHX)
– 2025 second-round pick (from SAC via CHI)
– 2028 second-round pick (via CHI)
Suns get:
– Norman Powell
– P.J. Tucker
– Zach Collins
Spurs get:
– Zach LaVine
– 2029 first-round pick (via CHI)
“Both the Bulls and LaVine should feel good about going their separate ways, especially as Chicago looks to get younger and free up future cap space,” Swartz wrote.
The deal would reunite LaVine with Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, who coached LaVine to a gold medal with Team USA in the Tokyo Summer Olympics. The Bulls notably acquired DeMar DeRozan from the Spurs in 2021.
San Antonio was the third team in DeRozan’s sign-and-trade to the Sacramento Kings in July.
Bulls See Major Cap Savings in Proposed Trade
This trade would shave $4.5 million from the Bulls’ bottom line in 2024-25. LaVine counts $43 million against the cap in Year 3 of a five-year, $215.1 million contract. He also has a $48.9 million player option for the final season in 2026-27.
Coffey is in the final year of a three-year, $11 million contract. Hyland is in the final year of his four-year, $10.7 million pact.
Johnson (four years, $74 million) and Mann (two years, $22 million) are in Year 2 of their deals.
With Coffey and Mann set for unrestricted free agency and Hyland a restricted free agent in 2025, the Bulls would be on the hook for Johnson’s $17.5 million salary in 2025-26 rather than LaVine’s $45.9 million cap charge in Swartz’s scenario.
“By the end of the deal, Johnson will only be taking up about 10.3 percent of the cap and could be a 20-point-per-game scorer for the Bulls,” Swartz wrote. “Mann, Hyland and Coffey are all 27 and younger and on expiring contracts. If they don’t fit in with a new-look core in Chicago, the Bulls could shop all three for picks or young players at the deadline or enjoy the cap space coming next summer.”
Proposed Trade Cost Could Prove Prohibitive
This trade idea would force the Bulls to waive five players. But that is just one potential roadblock to a deal such as what Swartz suggested getting done. The true issue could be the draft capital that might have to be involved.
The second-round picks are one thing. But the Bulls will also owe their 2025 first-round pick to the Spurs if it falls outside of the top-10 slots in the lottery.
The Bulls would lose control of their first-rounders through 2030 in this scenario, per NBA rules.
That would leave the Bulls to rely on the lottery-protected first-rounder owed to them by the Portland Trail Blazers and whatever draft capital they could recoup by flipping any of the incoming pieces in the proposal.
