Bulls front office stuck in waiting game while Zach LaVine makes art
It hasn’t been just a spectacle from Zach LaVine, it’s been art.
Maybe his most impressive masterpiece since putting on a Bulls uniform eight seasons ago.
An eye-opening 32.8 points per game since the calendar flipped to 2025, only overshadowed by the fact that he’s done that on 60% shooting from the field and a ridiculous 42.4% from three-point range.
Oh, by the way, throw in getting to the free throw line 5.6 times per game, as well as five assists and 4.8 rebounds in the five-game showcase.
And still he sits on a Bulls roster that has a front office actively trying to move him for almost two seasons, and has 25 days until the Feb. 6 trade deadlines comes and goes.
“People are supposed to talk about you, have opinions about you,” LaVine said after the blowout win over the Wizards on Friday. “If you’re not at that level, they wouldn’t talk about you at all.
“I’ve done a better job this year of just canceling out a lot of the noise.”
LaVine’s done more than that.
He’s done a better job of being a team leader, a willing defender, coachable, and understanding how to impact winning rather than simply impacting the box score.
So why is he still on the market?
The Bulls are getting apex LaVine, as well as All-Star Nikola Vucevic, and are an 18-20 team, barely holding onto a play-in spot in an Eastern Conference that is defined by the haves and the have nots.
It’s a flawed roster built by executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas, and one that needs an enema.
Here’s the ongoing issue in trying to move LaVine, however.
There’s a pecking order for the trade market and what the Bulls are fighting is LaVine’s previous reputation with his contract over the player and person he has evolved into today. The line needs to move and move quickly.
The Sun-Times reported last month that there was “light momentum” in trade talks with Denver, and while they weren’t completely taken off the table they have stalled. A source also said that there was early-season talk about LaVine and the Lakers, but the puzzle didn’t have the right pieces at the time. With Los Angeles moving the D’Angelo Russell contract a few weeks ago for Dorian Finney-Smith, the puzzle was all but thrown in the garbage.
LaVine and the Bulls, however, remain hostages by the game of chicken happening on South Beach with the Heat and Jimmy Butler, as well as the dumpster fire that has become the Pelicans.
Phoenix and Golden State both want Butler, but it’s not that easy considering he has the player option for next season and could walk.
New Orleans is dealing with a very cold market for Brandon Ingram and might have to look at the sign-and-trade route this summer, but does that mean they could turn their attention to moving off the 290-pound headache that has become Zion Williamson?
Whether it’s been the constant injuries, the offseason drama with adult film star Moriah Mills, or simply being suspended for Friday’s game because he was late for the team flight yet again, Williamson seems to have burnt almost every bridge with the organization to the ground.
But even with all that baggage, when Williamson does happen to get on the court and play in an actual NBA game, he is a superstar talent with a skillset unique to the league. Just watch the film from the play-in loss to the Lakers last season in which Williamson scored 40 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. The only thing that could slow him down that night was his left hamstring, which forced him out of the game late.
That leaves the Bulls patiently waiting, while watching LaVine play the best basketball of his career on a slow boat to nowhere.