Should Bulls Pursue Deandre Ayton Trade with Suns amid Latest NBA Rumors?
After missing the playoffs for the sixth time in eight years, the Chicago Bulls are heading into an interesting offseason. What moves will the team make to try to get back to having postseason success?
It's been quite some time since that's happened, considering the Bulls last won a playoff series in 2015. They'll need to decide which core players they want to continue to build around, who they may want to part with and who they may want to try to acquire.
A player in that last group could be Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton.
According to Sean Deveney of Heavy.com, one NBA general manager believes Chicago could be among the teams interested in attempting to trade for Ayton this summer. The 24-year-old could be on the market after the disappointing end to Phoenix's postseason run.
"It is a tough market for trading centers, though," the NBA GM told Deveney. "They are about to find that out. The team that might be the most interesting getting into that [Ayton] mix is Chicago, and I've heard he's on the list, at least. Lot still depends on the [draft] lottery."
Deveney also noted the Bulls and Suns "potentially could do a sign-and-trade for [Nikola] Vučević." The 32-year-old center will be an unrestricted free agent after spending the past two-and-a-half seasons in Chicago.
Ayton would likely be an upgrade over Vučević, especially for the long term. A five-year NBA veteran, Ayton is coming off a 2022-23 season in which he averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds over 67 games.
Phoenix has reached the postseason each of the past three years, and it has won five playoff series over that span, with Ayton serving as a key member of those successful teams.
So it would make sense for the Bulls to trade for Ayton. However, they also have to determine if they'd be willing to meet the Suns' asking price.
Chicago may decide to make some big changes to its roster. Deveney reported that the Bulls are "open to reshaping its roster with guard Zach LaVine as the clear No. 1 go-to option." And that while they "have not shopped" DeMar DeRozan yet, "that could be coming, considering he is 33 and heading into the final year of his contract."
It may be a good idea for the Bulls to include DeRozan as the centerpiece of a package to send to the Suns in return for Ayton. In that potential deal, Chicago would be getting a strong duo to build around in LaVine and Ayton, while Phoenix would be further upgrading on the wing.
So it could make a lot of sense for the Bulls and Suns to be trade partners. And as long as Chicago doesn't have to part with a lot of draft capital (which it will likely need to build for future success), then it should try to land Ayton, who still has a lot of productive years ahead of him.
