Zach LaVine Trade Rumors: Some Teams Believe Bulls Guard 'Could Be Had' in Deal
Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine reportedly "could be had" in trade talks this offseason.
Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated reported the Bulls are open to drafting LaMelo Ball if he falls to No. 4 in Wednesday's NBA draft because they're willing to move LaVine.
Ball is widely expected to go within the first three picks, potentially as high as No. 1 to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
LaVine has spent the last three seasons in Chicago after being the centerpiece of Minnesota's trade for Jimmy Butler. He's ascended to become one of the league's most gifted scorers, averaging 25.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists last season while shooting 38.0 percent from beyond the arc.
From a pure talent standpoint, LaVine's skill is obvious. He's one of the league's best athletes, an above-average shooter from beyond the arc and a solid passer as a secondary facilitator. If you took a look at the stat sheet, it would seem inexplicable that the Bulls would want to move on from a 25-year-old with LaVine's skill set.
The box score does not tell the whole story. LaVine is as remarkably bad on defense as he is good on offense. Because of his athletic gifts, these defensive struggles largely come down to a combination of effort and a seeming inability or unwillingness to grasp team concepts on that end.
ESPN's defensive RPM metric ranked LaVine as the 484th-best defender in the NBA last season. There were only 520 players listed.
While there are certainly bad defensive players who are considered stars—Trae Young was the NBA's worst defender and Bradley Beal the third-worst by the same metric—both Young and Beal have higher offensive ceilings than LaVine. At this point in his career, it's fair to criticize LaVine as being something of an empty-calorie scorer on a bad team.
There is still considerable room for improvement after the Bulls fired Jim Boylen, but it's not a surprise that the team is floating his name in trade talks.
