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Less than 24 hours after the Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis blockbuster that sent shockwaves around the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs acquired All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox in a three-team, seven-player deal Sunday night.
The third team in that mix was the Chicago Bulls, sending Zach LaVine in the midst of arguably the best season of his career to the Kings in exchange for Kevin Huerter, Tre Jones and Zach Collins.
Though this deal has underscored a fatal flaw with how the Bulls have managed their assets: The lack of first-round draft capital in return.
Sure, they got their own 2025 first back from San Antonio–further incentivizing them to blow it up over the next 72 hours. But they did not get a first-round pick back from Oklahoma City–who is overflowing with first-round picks–in the Alex Caruso trade; they did not get a first-round pick back for DeMar DeRozan from Sacramento, who instead swapped a 2031 first-round pick with San Antonio as a Harrison Barnes-incentive; now, they didn’t get one back for LaVine, who’s having arguably the best season of his career.
On the surface, it’s understandable why LaVine didn’t necessarily extract one–he has $141 million left on his deal over the next three seasons with an injury history. But if you know you’re not getting the best player and you’re shipping off the second-best at his highest value, why aren’t you trying to extract as much capital as you can as the team facilitating the deal? Sacramento deserves the most, but they can’t do the deal without you, so getting your own measly first is the stopping point?
The 2025 draft is stacked, but it’s not enough given the recent mishandlings of trades. Perhaps they think they can get at least one first-round pick back for Nikola Vucevic, in addition to other draft capital in exchange or Lonzo Ball, Jones, Patrick Williams–who’s on an albatross contract that should’ve never been signed–Coby White, etc. But having arguably three of your best players over the last half-dozen years net you Josh Giddey, Chris Duarte, Jones, Huerter, Collins and a couple of seconds simply isn’t good enough.
That’s poor asset management, and in an era where players on cost-controlled players–i.e. players you draft–are going to be at a premium, there’s a world where this does way more harm than good for a Bulls team that’s been perpetually mediocre without a direction for the better part of the last decade.
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