NBA Trade Rumors: 6 ‘championship cores’ that badly need to be retooled

Miami Heat Jimmy Butler (Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports)
Miami Heat Jimmy Butler (Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports)
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DeMar DeRozan
DeMar DeRozan (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls are in a difficult situation. They have a roster that is in win-now mode but their record would not indicate that. In fact, you can say that has extended to last season. Even though the injury to Lonzo Ball has some to do with their underwhelming performance this season, that should almost never be used as an excuse.

Nevertheless, heading into the NBA Trade Deadline, the Bulls have an interesting decision to make regarding the future of this franchise. With DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Ball, and Nikola Vucevic considered their core players, there’s no question that this is a team that is in desperate need of a core shakeup.

I’m not sure the move is for Chicago to completely blow up their roster and it would make little sense for the team to trade LaVine after giving him the huge contract extension this past offseason. but perhaps they should be open to trying to move DeRozan if they can.

With Ball injured, he may be the only asset that is viewed as “tradable” for the Bulls leading up to the deadline.