NBA Trade Rumors: Are Chicago Bulls Shopping Carlos Boozer to Orlando Magic?

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Chicago Bulls Not Thrilled With Carlos Boozer, Might Trade Him to Orlando Magic to Join Buddy, Dwight Howard

In the quest to reshape their roster for true title contention, the Chicago Bulls may have to sacrifice one of their current cornerstones.

The most likely culprit also happens to be among the team's most recent additions: Carlos Boozer.

Boozer was a huge disappointment in the first year of a five-year, $80 million deal that he signed with Chicago last summer. Though his numbers were respectable, with averages of 17.5 points and 9.6 rebounds, Boozer missed 23 games during the course of the season while dealing with a variety of injuries.

Most troubling, however, was the decline in Boozer's scoring to 12.6 points in 16 postseason contests.

With this being the case, Hoops World's Alex Kennedy says the Bulls are open to moving Boozer, though they may have trouble finding a suitor, much less anything worth noting in return, with the forward's stock at an all-time low and four years remaining on his bloated contract.

Interestingly enough, Kennedy suggests the Orlando Magic just might be willing to make a deal with Chicago for Boozer. Magic general manager Otis Smith must do whatever he can to accommodate Dwight Howard, lest he watch the situation with his franchise star devolve into a fiasco not unlike the one Carmelo Anthony put the Denver Nuggets through this past season.

How does Boozer fit into all this? Well, "Superman" and Booz apparently are very close friends—so close, in fact, that Howard has personally requested in the past that Smith pursue Boozer to be his teammate.

And with Boozer on the block, there would seem to be no better, or more crucial, opportunity for the Bulls and the Magic to get together. Chances are, the Bulls would have to take back a bad deal or two in return, from some combination of J.J. Redick, Hedo Turkoglu and Gilbert Arenas.

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