Bulls' Players to Target in 2024 NBA Draft Day Trades
The Chicago Bulls are a team to watch during the 2024 NBA offseason.
And if they get enough right this summer, perhaps they'll be a team to watch during the 2024-25 campaign that follows, too.
Folks are still wondering whether this front office might try tearing down and retooling this roster, but that speculation has always come from outside the organization. Within it, the aim seems to still be on maximizing competitiveness, so if the Bulls make some deals during the draft, don't be surprised if they're seeking out plug-and-play veterans and not unproven prospects.
Dorian Finney-Smith, Brooklyn Nets
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Regardless how the Bulls handle DeMar DeRozan and Patrick Williams in free agency, they will need more two-way forwards.
Among reasonably priced role players, Finney-Smith is one of the better options around.
He is your classic three-and-D swingman. He can guard multiple positions and convert the offensive opportunities his teammates create for him.
While his three-ball has cooled in recent seasons (34.3 percent since the start of 2022-23), that correlates with a drop in quality of the shot-creators around him. Between 2020-21 and 2021-22, when he was playing off of the likes of Luka Dončić, Jalen Brunson and Kristaps Porziņģis, Finney-Smith averaged 2.1 triples per tilt with a 39.5 percent splash rate.
Brandon Ingram, New Orleans Pelicans
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If the Bulls are going to dramatically change their fate next season, then they need to land a difference-maker. Ingram absolutely qualifies.
He may not be a superstar, but he is a 6'8" swingman who gets the offensive humming.
In each of the past three seasons, his nightly contributions have featured at least 20 points, five assists and five rebounds. To contextualize those numbers, that's a feat matched by only nine other players across the Association, per StatHead Basketball.
Ingram does have a rather detailed injury history, and he'll need to be paid between now and next summer, so there are things for Chicago to think about. Still, New Orleans appears motivated to move him, so it's possible Ingram costs less in a trade than his numbers and impact say he should.
Dejounte Murray, Atlanta Hawks
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While there might finally be reasons for optimism regarding Lonzo Ball, the Bulls can't possibly count on a player who is two-and-a-half-years removed from his last appearance. If he makes it back to the hardwood, great, but Chicago should not plan on that happening.
So, the Bulls could be in the market for another guard, not to mention more scoring and table-setting. And that's especially true with DeRozan entering free agency and Zach LaVine perpetually holding court on the trade rumor mill.
It's possible, in other words, for Chicago to have a big enough opening in the backcourt to justify an aggressive pursuit of Murray. The Bulls could use better defense along the perimeter, more ball movement in this offense and another reliable scoring source. The 27-year-old combo guard checks every box.
In 2021-22, he held the keys to the San Antonio Spurs' offense and promptly posted per-game averages of 21.1 points and 9.2 assists. A trade to Atlanta put him in more of a co-starring role the past two seasons, and he still managed to post 21.5 points and 6.3 assists. He is a high-end talent, and his defense and distributing could allow Coby White to focus more on his scoring, which is the strongest part of his game.
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