Trading Luol Deng Could Have Unintended Consequences for Chicago Bulls

With Derrick Rose going down for the season again, Luol Deng’s name has come up in trade rumors once again. There could, however, be unintended consequences to a midseason trade.

Often times, we look at basketball as just the game that happens on the court. Or, we’ll look at things with the notion of the NBA being a business, factoring in things like taxes, salary caps, contracts and so on.

Certainly, there’s a lot to be understood about why the Bulls would entertain the idea of training Deng. They own the fourth-highest payroll in the league. They’re in the luxury tax. They’re set up for the repeater tax next year.

Deng is in his 10th season. He has an injury history and a ton of minutes.

He’s likely to fetch a deal in the range of four years and $40-50 million this summer in free agency. The Bulls are not well-positioned to spend that much, and as much as Deng’s play has its own kind of value, they need a player with shot-creating skill set.

So, because of all that, there’s a sadness around the team right now. The players understand why—that doesn’t help.

The heart and the brain aren’t always easily reconciled. Because something is understood doesn’t mean that it’s easy to feel good about it.

The other aspect of the game that gets brushed aside sometimes is the human aspect. The rest of the team isn’t just teammates—they’re friends. In some cases, they’re friends who have been together a long time.

Luol Deng and Joakim Noah have been through some serious wars together. They’ve been teammates for seven years. Only Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem in Miami, and the foursome of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Matt Bonner have been together longer. 

Deng was part of the unanimous decision to suspended Noah in his rookie season after an altercation with assistant coach Ron Adams. That suspension was a major factor in Noah maturing, he said so himself after he was elected to the All-Star Game last year for the first time. He told K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune:

"

I wouldn't be here without my teammates, coaches and this organization... They believed in me. I came in as a young, loud (rookie), probably a little immature and just with a big mouth. They believed in me through the good times and hard times. I just wanted to say I appreciated them.

"

When fans fecall the history of Deng with the Bulls, there are a lot of great moments. The “Baby Bulls” of his rookie season might not have ever evolved into what fans hoped they would, but they somehow went from losing nine straight to open the season to getting back to the postseason for the first time since the Jordan era. They’ve only missed the playoffs once since then.

There was the 2009 series with the Boston Celtics. While the eighth-seeded Bulls gave the top-seeded Boston Celtics a battle for all they were worth, Deng wasn’t able to play due to injury, and it left many a fan wondering, “what if?”

Even if he wasn’t on the court, he was a part of the team who passed through that experience.

There was the 2011 regular season, where the Bulls had their remarkably unexpected run to the best record in the league. Twice, Deng made pivotal plays to beat the vaunted Miami Heat. First, he hit this clutch three to win one game.

Then, 10 days later, in what became known as the “Crying Game” (because of the admission that some Heat players cried afterwards), Deng split a pair of free throws with the Bulls down two minutes and 17 seconds left on the clock. Missing his second, Deng was fouled by Mike Miller as he was going for the rebound. Then, with 15 seconds left, he hit both tries, and the Bulls ended up with the one-point win.

There was this steal against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2012.

And there was this tip-in against the Toronto Raptors.

And there was this game-winner against the Atlanta Hawks.

And then there is this, my all-time favorite Deng moment: With the Bulls struggling in their opening playoff game against the Indiana Pacers, Deng lifts the United Center crowd, and the Bulls, inspiring them to victory by exhibiting a rare display of emotion.

The Bulls have made many remarkable comebacks, and there are so many of them where Deng plays such a huge part. Those things forge bonds.

The only present Bull who has been on the team without Deng is Kirk Hinrich, and he had a two-year absence. For the whole team, part of the Bulls is Deng. In many ways, the team characterizes him. His work ethic, courage, persistence and defensive intensity are earmarks of the team and why they win.

This group has been knitted together through battle and through controversy.

They’ve seen changes in the front office and on the bench. Whether it was Gar Forman and John Paxson upset with Vinny Del Negro playing Noah past imposed limits, or letting Adams go, much to the chagrin of Tom Thibodeau, these things reach and impact a team.

Players like Deng are the ones who help the locker room not get distracted by these things.

They’ve been through real-life things together, such as Rose’s problematic knees. Or, more critically, Deng’s near-death illness last postseason.

They've traveled hundreds of thousands of miles together, slept in countless hotels, eaten in too many restaurants, laced up their sneakers a ridiculous number of times and battled side-by-side.

It might sound like an overly simple word to use, but it’s the best word to use. When you spend a huge part of your lives together, you’re not just teammates anymore, you’re friends.

We, as fans, look at “fake trades” and talk about assets, draft picks or other players to come in and replace Deng. In doing so, we take out the human element.

When players develop a kinship that close, something happens. A little piece of your friends gets into you. If the Bulls make a move, they’re not just trading away Deng; they’re trading away Deng with a little piece of Rose, a little piece of Noah, and a little piece of Jimmy Butler.

If I were to describe Deng in a single word, it would be “noble.”  He believes in things greater than himself. Whether it is his involvement in trying to help in his native South Sudan or in preserving youth basketball in the United Kingdom, Deng’s heart is bigger than the game, and because it is bigger, he is able to make those around him bigger.

It's understandable that the Bulls need to get something while they still can for Deng. This shouldn't be seen as a judgement against management so much as just empathizing with the team. They came into the season with honest championship hopes, and now it's like they are just playing out the season knowing that their time together will soon come to an end. 

Finding meaning in games or wins becomes more difficult. That's just being human, and I think sometimes we can lose track of the fact that players are people too. 

It's not surprising that the player who has stepped up the most, and fought the hardest since Rose went down, is Deng. That's just who he is. He's averaging 23.0 points, 7.2 boards and 4.8 assists while shooting 50.6 percent from the field since then. Even if what the Bulls need is for him to raise his trade value, he does it. 

If the Bulls trade Deng, or he walks in free agency, a little part of his teammates will go with him, but a little part of him will be left behind. Traces of that nobility will be left in the Rose, Noah and Butler. His impact will remain.

Just don’t be surprised when there is a little sorrow left behind. Friends can be traded, but friendships can’t be.