With last summer's roster realignment, the Bulls became the big dark horse this season, once firmly occupying the first place in the East, but eventually eliminated in the first round.
Although the team has become a dark horse, it has exposed the problem of insufficient core hardness throughout the season, and has never shown dominance against strong teams, and if you want to go further, you must upgrade the core configuration.
With LaVine's contract expiring, the Bulls face the challenge of contract renewal, and the team may not be willing to offer LaVine a 5-year maximum salary contract, because LaVine has proven that he is not a top star.
Since LaVine is a full free agent, he can sign directly to other teams, but signing first and then changing is obviously a more realistic option, the Bulls can get a certain chip reward, and LaVine can also sign a 5-year long contract.
As a result, in the past, there has been an ESPN-signed Rumor of a Lavin trade that pointed out that Lavine wants to join the Lakers.
But according to the traces since then, this is an unfounded report, and even so, as Lavin signed with Rich Paul's agency, it also made Lavin inextricably linked to the Lakers.
To this end, the los Angeles local media "Lakeshowlife" supports three teams, including the Lakers, to try to complete a 3-party 4-person transaction plan, helping LaVine to join hands with Old Zhan and Westbrook to go to the Knicks, and the Lakers are expected to kill two birds with one stone.
Potential trading scenarios
Lakers get: Lavin;
Bulls get: Randall + Fournier;
The Knicks get: Westbrook + 2027 first-round pick + 2028 first-round pick swap.
For the Lakers, it was a perfect deal, and the team not only got Lavine, a high-quality three-in-command, but also dealt with Westbrook, who was carrying a tricky contract with two birds with one stone.
The Lakers' two goals come at a cost of sending out a first-round pick and a very limited swap, which is a very incredible deal.
Because Wei Shao's contract is too bad, simply dealing with Wei Shao's contract is enough to catch these chips, and the team also got Lavin in the transaction.
Therefore, this is a deal given by the Los Angeles media based entirely on current rumors, and the basis for the completion of the plan is not a chip match, but Lavine is a player under rich Paul and a free agent.
Only if Lavine chooses to force the palace to leave the team, it is possible for the Bulls to accept such a plan, which is almost a gamble with Klutch Sports and Lavine's reputation in the industry.
Of course, throughout the history of the league, such a big gamble is not a minority, as long as the star leaves the team with an iron heart, then everything will not be an obstacle, and Harden this season is the best example.
Therefore, from the perspective of the value of the trading chips alone, the transaction is meaningless for the Bulls, and the team either keeps Lavin or wants to exchange Lavin for chips of the same value, and the transaction is obviously "robbery".
But the problem, as noted above, is that if LaVine's contract is one year left, or if he is restricted from free agents, the Bulls have a basis to retain people and ask for better chips.
Unfortunately, with the end of the season, the Bulls can only use reputation and professional ethics to limit Lavine, in the current league, these two seemingly worthless things are actually worthless, after all, many players do not even have a basic contract spirit, let alone a vain reputation and morality.
As a third-party Knicks, this deal is fully worth the team's consideration, and it also achieves two major goals.
The first point is to clean up Randall's big contract with Fournier, the former has fallen out with local fans and is carrying a huge contract, and the Knicks must clean him up if they want to achieve something in the short term.
Westbrook's contract is huge, but his contract has only one year left, which means that the Knicks will free up more than $50 million in 2023, and according to New York's attraction, the Knicks are not afraid of signing stars who are better than Randle.
Not to mention that the team also packed up together to clean up Fournier, and the Knicks signed Fournier last summer to try to improve the team's offensive performance, resulting in a huge premium contract.
Coupled with a first-round pick and a swap through the deal, there's no reason the Knicks shouldn't be a third party to the deal.
What's more, according to the team's Thibodeau's playing style and system, Westbrook's style of play is very suitable for the Knicks, whether it is the eye-catching impact on the court, or the clothing and style of the fashion frontier outside the field, it is easy to make Westbrook become the darling of New York.