The Bulls had a “firm offer” to acquire a first-round pick and take on future salary in a deal for Lonzo Ball at the trade deadline, a league source tells John Hollinger of The Athletic. K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network (Twitter link) backs up that report, suggesting he heard the same thing prior to the deadline.
Instead of accepting that offer, the Bulls opted to hang onto Ball and agreed to sign him to an extension instead. That two-year deal will reportedly be worth $20MM, with a second-year team option for 2026/27.
While it’s fair to question Chicago’s decision to pass on that reported trade offer, there are several missing details that would provide more context on just how strong the offer was. For instance, we don’t know how many years of salary the Bulls would’ve been required to take on, whether the first-rounder was heavily protected or likely to land in the late-20s, and whether other players or assets would have been included.
Johnson does provide one additional detail, tweeting that at least one of the scenarios he heard about would’ve required the Bulls to sent out a second-round pick along with Ball as part of the deal.
Here are a few more leftovers from last Thursday’s trade deadline:
- Appearing on the local broadcast of Wednesday’s game vs. the Lakers (Twitter video link via Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal), Jazz general manager Justin Zanik suggested that Los Angeles was fortunate to land superstar guard Luka Doncic in a trade Utah helped facilitate. “(Lakers GM) Rob Pelinka even said it in his press conference introducing Luka, that it was a gift,” Zanik said. “I think that’s how a lot of my colleagues – I don’t want to speak for them – but how we all kind of felt.”
- Zanik went on to say that he respects the Mavericks‘ front office and noted that Dallas received a “top-15 player” in his own right in Anthony Davis. He also expressed a belief that if the Jazz hadn’t been willing to serve as a facilitator, another team would have stepped in and snatched up the two second-round picks that went to Utah for taking on Jalen Hood-Schifino‘s contract. “If we were in the playoffs right now, I’d be asking both (teams), ‘What is going on?’ and ‘I’m not doing it,'” the Jazz GM said. “But where we are, the ability to pick up stuff basically for free, to do something another team would have done anyway (made sense).”
- A panel of ESPN’s NBA reporters (Insider link), including Jeremy Woo, Bobby Marks, and Michael C. Wright, break down how seven lottery-bound teams’ moves at the trade deadline affect their outlook going forward. Addressing the Hornets‘ post-deadline plans, Marks notes that general manager Jeff Peterson will have to decide whether LaMelo Ball is still a foundational piece in Charlotte. As good as Ball has been when healthy, he has been limited to 91 total games since the start of the 2022/23 season and his impressive scoring numbers haven’t necessarily translated to wins.
- Only five teams – the Trail Blazers, Magic, Nets, Nuggets, and Timberwolves – sat out the trade deadline entirely, not making any moves in the week leading up to the afternoon of February 6. Michael Pina of The Ringer takes a closer look at why those teams opted to stand pat and delivers a one-word verdict on each club’s inactivity, including “bizarre” for Portland and “commendable” for Orlando.
I have a feeling Luka eventually will leave LA, I dont feel like the city matches his vibe
Is that what he told you?
My guess is it would have been Memphis sending their package of Smart and a first for Ball and a second
Good thought, def feasible, unsure tho given he mentions “future salary”. When I hear that I think of 2-3 more years, whereas Smarts expiring next year
I think in this case “future” just means “beyond this season” (unlike Lonzo, who was expiring). Could be one more year. Could be three.
The Smart idea makes a lot of sense to me too, since the Grizzlies were said to have interest in Ball and they eventually gave up their first-rounder to move off Smart in another deal.
True, that makes sense
In a sports landscape that has been increasingly infected by hedge fund thinking, it’s refreshing to see a team like the Bulls, who remain without a clue.
Way to put a spin on it, AK.
Bulls will be irrelevant for at least the rest of the decade. Gonna get even uglier before it gets better. Hopefully they’ll realize that finally.
^It’s like someone 14 drinks deep who’s been spinning on the bathroom floor for 3 hours, tuning out their friends and saying “just gimme a minute I’ll be fine,” refusing to just bite the bullet and puke their brains out in the toilet.
To extend the analogy for fun , the Pat contract was def a particularly nasty double shot of Jaeger around drink 10
No this is Chicago – it was malort!
Lmao fax. Thought abt putting that but didn’t bc I know quite a few ppl around here who actually like it (I’m p neutral on it, I dislike jaeger far more tbh)
Longer probably. It’ll take Jerry and Michael at least until the end of the decade before they realize Arturas is a moron and fire him. And the rebuild obviously can’t start in earnest until Arturas is gone. I’m prepared for 10-15 years of irrelevance until the Bulls are interesting again.
Sheesh. You’re not wrong but man is that depressing. Really is mind boggling that AK still has a job after refusing to make trades and then abs botching every one he actually does make.
Cannot stay this enough for everyone.
Being a Bulls fan the last 25 years has aged me to approximately 60-70 years old.
And I’m turning 40 in a few months. Let THAT sink in.
Absolutely the most inept, most clueless, most every single insult/hyperbole/etc that the english language currently consists off and that is what you describe the Chicago Bulls franchise now.
But hey atleast we’re 2nd in attendance only behind Dallas everyone!!!