Chicago Bulls: 4 Bold moves to completely revamp roster ahead of trade deadline
By Matt Sidney
Bulls trade 3
Move 3: Chicago Bulls trade Zach LaVine
(**This trade cannot take place until Jan 15 due to recently signed contracts**)
This trade seems like a total win/win. The Los Angeles Lakers get their star and the Chicago Bulls get some young talent to build around. Max Christie is still somehow only 20 years old and provides your prototypical 3-and-D wing. Jalen Hood-Schifino is a 20-year-old combo guard who, in college, looked like he would eventually be able to run an offense and create for others. He projects as more of a passer than a knockdown three-point shooter, but it's the potential that the Bulls are really interested in here.
D'Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura are included in the deal mostly as salary fillers, but they can both provide some productive minutes off the bench and some veteran leadership on a newly, very young team.
The Lakers are happy to be getting an explosive scoring guard in LaVine and would be fine with Terry Taylor riding along for salary-matching purposes. Taylor has a similar size to Jae'sean Tate of the Houston Rockets, and if he could produce like Tate, this would be a great bonus. The talent scale weighs heavily in favor of the Lakers here, which is why offloading from two young players who aren't receiving rotation minutes makes sense.
The Bulls, on the other hand, should love the potential that is coming from this trade. A big combo guard in Hood-Schifino would fit in nicely with Coby White, and the two would be able to play alongside one another effortlessly. Max Christie fills the need for a perimeter-oriented wing who can lock down on defense and knock down threes on offense.
The draft compensation coming back to the Bulls probably wouldn't be incredible, as the Lakers don't have much future draft capital, and they also have been weary of throwing so much draft capital in trades since the Anthony Davis/New Orleans Pelicans trade. However, this is a great return for the Chicago Bulls and one that they would be happy to take.