Zach LaVine Trade Rumors: Lakers, Knicks, Heat, Mavs Eyeing Bulls Star at Deadline

If the Chicago Bulls eventually explore the Zach LaVine trade market, there will reportedly be no shortage of suitors.

HoopsHype's Michael Scotto and Yossi Gozlan talked about potential LaVine moves during a discussion on their podcast, and the former listed the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat as "teams who could have interest in trading for him."

Things have not gone as planned for the Bulls this season, as they are 17-21 and holding onto the final spot in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament in the current standings.

They were the No. 6 seed in last season's playoffs but were competing for a top spot prior to Lonzo Ball's injury. Ball still hasn't returned to a team that now has long-term roster question marks, making it easy to speculate that the front office may decide to start building toward the future and move on from the current core.

Yet Gozlan suggested his "feeling is they don't want to be sellers" and pointed to their success last season prior to Ball's setback and the hope LaVine takes another step forward as he progresses further from his knee surgery.

LaVine's future with the organization has been in the headlines at times, as Shams Charania and Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic reported in December that "LaVine and the Bulls are not seeing eye to eye. Over the past few weeks, there's been a palpable feeling across various parts of the franchise of a disconnect over LaVine's situation in Chicago."

Among the team's remedies have been "one-on-one, face-to-face sitdowns" with LaVine and DeMar DeRozan.

However, the team's official account seemed to push back at that narrative during an ensuing win over the Knicks:

The Bulls have played better of late with a 6-3 record since the report from The Athletic was released. They have enough talent to be a playoff contender, and perhaps Ball can eventually return and give the core another go-to playmaker ahead of the postseason.

LaVine, who is averaging 22.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, is also under team control until his 2026-27 player option, so there is no pressing need to move him in the immediate future.

But Chicago will have options if it does eventually choose to move on from the shooting guard.