NBA Trade Rumors: Are the Chicago Bulls trying to crash the Damian Lillard sweepstakes, which remains at somewhat of a standstill?
As the Portland Trail Blazers get more serious about trading Damian Lillard with the start of training camp quickly approaching, it’s become quite clear that non-Miami Heat teams are becoming more and more interested in crashing the Lillard sweepstakes.
Over the last few days, the noise surrounding a possible dark horse or mystery team winning the Lillard sweepstakes has gained traction.
Many believed that the Toronto Raptors were one of those possible teams. Now, there appears to be another.
According to Philadelphia 76ers reporter Kyle Neubeck, the Chicago Bulls are a team that has been making calls in an attempt to get in on the Lillard sweepstakes. How serious they are in making an all-in offer for Lillard remains to be seen. But this is certainly an interesting wrinkle that hasn’t been reported yet.
What would the Chicago Bulls have to offer for Damian Lillard?
Off the cuff, you’d have to question what exactly the Bulls would have to offer for Lillard. Let’s start at the top, there’s probably no way the Bulls would trade Zach LaVine in any offer for Lillard. That would make their interest meaningless. I would imagine that DeMar DeRozan would likely have to be included for salary reasons (unless the Bulls can find a team that would be willing to take on Lonzo Ball).
Maybe they move DeRozan to a third team to acquire an additional first-round pick?
After that, they could build a package around Patrick Williams, Coby White, and maybe Dalen Terry. They have three tradable future first-round picks and an additional one they can theoretically get from a DeRozan trade; that would have the Bulls offering our first-round picks, Williams, White, and maybe Terry.
Would that be enough for the Blazers? I’m not sure if the Bulls would be willing to gamble all of those assets for a player that may or may not want to play for the team but at this point, the Bulls have to be somewhat desperate.
Quite frankly, that’s what the Heat have to be fearing most at this point in the Lillard saga – that there’s a team out there that’s going to throw all common sense out the window and make an offer for Lillard just for the chance of hitting.
The question is, are the Bulls seriously interested, or was just this a courtesy call to see where the Lillard saga stood?