There are a lot of big teams in the NBA, who are not Championship contenders going into the 2024-25 season. The Chicago Bulls look ready to wipe the slate clean and start afresh. They have already parted ways with DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso while Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic are believed to be available on the trade block as well.
On the other hand, the Los Angeles Lakers do not have the luxury of thinking about a rebuild. One could argue that they never do but especially not with LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the team.
One would expect those two to be perennial Championship contenders. But their run in Los Angeles has been largely underwhelming, despite bringing a ring to the Lakers.
Since winning the Championship in the 2020 bubble, the Lakers have not managed to finish in the guaranteed playoff spots even once. On one occasion, they did not even make the play-in.
With LeBron set to turn 40 before the turn of the year, the Lakers’ Championship window is getting narrower by the day and they might need to make some roster changes soon if they plan to compete for a ring in 2024-25.
Could that lead to the Lakers trying to trade for LaVine? If they did, what kind of a package should the Bulls expect in return?
In the article ‘1 Ambitious Trade Target for Every NBA Team This Season’ on Bleacher Report, Andy Bailey suggested Rui Hachimura for the Bulls.
Bailey wrote: “If L.A. struggles to play like a title contender for the fifth year in a row, it might get desperate to live up to those expectations and start looking at trade targets like Zach LaVine (who’s been a rumored potential target for months).
“Assuming that happens, the Chicago Bulls would probably push someone like Austin Reaves, but listing him here might take us beyond “ambitious” and into “unrealistic.”
“Rui Hachimura is more gettable, is still only 26 years old and would give Chicago’s new playmaker, Josh Giddey, a good target on offense.”
Just getting LaVine’s monster contract off the books would be a major positive for the Bulls. On top of that, Hachimura has the potential to be a good fit on this team.
Hachimura signed a three-year, $51 million contract with the Lakers last year. He averaged 13.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 68 games in 2023-24.
