NBA Trade Rumors: A Zach LaVine trade may not come as quickly as many expect, if at all.
It's been a little more than a week since it was originally reported that there was a growing belief that the Chicago Bulls and Zach LaVine could explore a trade. However, since then, aside from a few reported teams that may express interest, the story hasn't evolved much. But there may be a reason why.
As the Bulls continue to struggle, they're 5-10 at the moment, there doesn't appear to be much overwhelming interest in LaVine on the open market. While it doesn't appear the Bulls are openly shopping him, you'd have to imagine that they're at least taking some calls. At least for now, that hasn't progressed on any level.
In fact, there's now somewhat of a growing notion that it could be a while before we see a LaVine trade, if we see one at all.
According to a recent report, there's no expectation that a LaVine trade is close. In fact, there's a belief Bulls Vice President of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas could wait until the NBA Trade Deadline - or later - to move LaVine and/or one of his big contract players.
Add in the whispers that LaVine's trade market is "limited" at this point and it's easy to see why a LaVine trade could take some time to develop.
Zach LaVine's trade market could be complicated
At this point, it's impossible to predict what LaVine's trade market will be. There have been some reports of teams that theoretically could be interested but if it's true that there isn't a ton of interest surrounding LaVine, it leaves the Bulls in a difficult spot.
If the Bulls want to trade LaVine and make it a point of emphasis before the offseason, that means they'd have to take a negative package. LaVine is a really good player but is nothing more than a strong supporting piece at this point in his career.
He's never proved to be a capable No. 1 or No. 2 option. That's fine. But acquiring a No. 3 supporting star in this NBA economy could prove to be increasingly difficult, especially with the new CBA rules.
Any deal that goes down will almost certainly have to be a multi-team deal, especially if it's a contender making the splash deal. Those types of deals require time; weeks and sometimes months to all come to fruition. There's a very good chance the Bulls might have to wait until the offseason to finalize this LaVine saga. Quite frankly, I'm not sure that's good news for anyone involved.