The NBA trade deadline is about 48 hours away and these new Chicago Bulls trade rumors will completely blow your mind. Knowing that the team is in the middle of a bad spiral at the moment, GM Gar Forman appears to be ready to make some major shakeups to this team’s roster.
Source: #Bulls have offered Nikola Mirotic, Tony Snell, Joakim Noah's expiring deal & 1st rounder to #Kings for Rudy Gay & Ben McLemore.
— Carlos Douglas Jr. (@TheRealC_Los) February 16, 2016
Report: Bulls, Raptors talked Taj Gibson for Patrick Patterson trade https://t.co/NETEnDz9OQ
— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) February 16, 2016
Bulls reportedly still involved in trade talks for DeMarcus Cousins. Hard to imagine what they could offer. https://t.co/5OxgkPHn7w
— Mark Schanowski (@MarkSchanowski) February 15, 2016
There is also this nugget which Mark put out there…
Detroit gets an upgrade at SF, and you have to wonder if Magic will now trade Oladipo. He would look great w/Bulls. https://t.co/f4XVEdl1lV
— Mark Schanowski (@MarkSchanowski) February 16, 2016
Each one of these deals would significantly improve the Bulls roster, and give them a much more competitive team this season. Each of these players are locked up for at least two seasons, with DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay locked down for three years. Additionally, with the NBA salary cap expected to jump to $92 million in 2016-17, the Bulls would be in a position to be able to carry Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, and one or more of these potential players beyond this season.
If the Bulls could find a way to obtain Cousins (26 ppg) and/or Gay (19 ppg) they immediately and vastly improve the team’s offensive capabilities. Cousins currently averages more than anyone on the roster, and more than anyone since Michael Jordan’s final season in Chicago. Gay would give the team another player that’s grouped in that 16-20 ppg range, which makes it difficult for a team to guard you since anyone in the starting rotation would be capable of going off for a huge night.
These deals also makes keeping Pau Gasol make sense. If the Bulls can pull in talent, and sign Gasol to a reasonable deal, the Bulls could completely flip their roster, without flipping their top talent. While this would more than likely make them completely irrelevant in the coming years free agency, this could prove to be a way for the current Bulls team to suddenly become… contenders.
