The Chicago Bulls will begin training camp on October 1 with many questions surrounding their roster.
Zach Lavine has been the primary target of trade rumors, but a new three-team exchange project centers on another Bulls All-Star.
The Bulls would send Nikola Vucevic, Lonzo Ball and a 2028 second-round pick to the New Orleans Pelicans and Ayo Dosunmu to the Atlanta Hawks. In exchange, they would receive Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram, guards Garrison Matthews and Kobe Bufkin, and center Cody Zeller from the Hawks.
The deal appears to be a risky gamble, with all three teams essentially moving pieces that wouldn’t change their standings.
“This trade doesn’t make Chicago any better, and they would still be in contention to make the play-in tournament,” Jackson Caudell wrote. “A team with Coby White, Josh Giddey, Zach LaVine and Brandon Ingram is not good defensively, and the Bulls don’t have an obvious starting center option.”
The Bulls are also unlikely to offer Ingram, who is in the final year of his contract, the four-year, $207.8 million extension he is seeking.
Vucevic is an offensive upgrade for the Pelicans at receiver, but his lack of interior defense wouldn’t be appealing to a New Orleans team without true rim protection. Lonzo Ball has already had a disappointing, injury-filled run with the Pelicans, and his health remains a major question mark.
Aside from terminating Ball and Vucevic’s contracts, it appears the deal would lock the Bulls into play-in caliber status rather than a true Eastern Conference contender.
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