NBA Trade Rumors: Bulls Wasting Their Time Pursuing Pau Gasol

The first rumors linking Pau Gasol to the Chicago Bulls were flimsy at best. It was difficult to tell who said what to who, and it was even more difficult to tell whether or not the Bulls were actually interested in doing business with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Now, with the time winding down to Thursday's trade deadline, it's pretty clear that the Bulls are indeed interested in acquiring Gasol.

On Tuesday, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported that the Bulls are "exploring avenues" to bring Gasol to Chicago. They were most interested in acquiring Dwight Howard, but they saw the writing on the wall that they like Howard more than he likes them.

The trouble with pursuing Gasol is that the Lakers don't like what the Bulls have to offer, namely Carlos Boozer. A Gasol-Boozer trade would be an upgrade for the Bulls and a downgrade for the Lakers, so it makes sense that the Lakers want nothing to do with such a deal.

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune reported that the Bulls are going to have to get creative if they want Gasol:

"

Lakers have no interest in Boozer, so any trade for Gasol would have to include 3rd team. As of now, sources say #Bulls not finding one.

— K.C Johnson (@KCJHoop) March 13, 2012"

The key issue with the idea of the Bulls dealing with the Lakers is that the Lakers' top preference, according to Stein and a million other reporters, is to find a point guard. To that end, Gasol is their top trading chip, and the Bulls are not a natural trade partner because they don't have a point guard they can afford to part with.

So if I had to speculate, I'd say the only way this deal is getting done is if there's a three-team deal in which the Bulls get Gasol, the Lakers get a point guard, and the team that gave up the point guard gets Boozer. After all, my presumption is that the Bulls don't want to acquire Gasol while keeping Boozer around.

If Gasol comes, Boozer likely has to go.

But if the Lakers would essentially be giving up Gasol just to get a point guard, there's no reason for them to bring the Bulls in on the deal. They've been rumored to be trying to deal Gasol for a point guard for weeks, and executing a deal like that doesn't have to require a third team.

Besides, from the sound of things, there aren't any teams out there willing to consider bringing Boozer in. It would be one thing if he had an expiring contract, but he doesn't. Any team that deals for him would be stuck with an aging player who is clearly on the decline.

It boils down to this: The Bulls are trying to swing a deal that is going to be very hard to swing, if not impossible altogether. They're not hurting anybody by trying, but they're fooling themselves if they actually think there's a deal to be made here.

When the deadline passes, we're going to know something about the Bulls that we've known for quite a while now.

They're kinda stuck with the team they have.