The Chicago Bulls probably wish they could do their 2024 NBA trade deadline over again. And their 2023 trade deadline. And their 2022 deadline. You get the picture. After injuries further decimated the Bulls’ roster with the season-ending injury to Patrick Williams, it is clear this season is going nowhere. Wouldn’t it be nicer if it was going nowhere with more draft assets for future moves?
That is the question posed in a recent article by Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley, who asked if the Bulls might regret not turning 3-and-D specialist guard Alex Caruso into a mountain of draft assets. “He isn’t someone who the stat sheet thinks would’ve delivered a pile of assets in a deal,” writes Buckley. “In this market, though, he loomed as a top target for seemingly every win-now shopper.”
“His glue-guy game made him a fit with anyone, while his $9.5 million salary, per Spotrac, felt like a fit for any budget.”
Chicago's Patrick Williams out for season for foot surgery as injury bug spreads https://t.co/We3ytWoVc9 pic.twitter.com/LlduViGf22
— Bulls Wire (@Bulls_Wire) February 24, 2024
“The Bulls could have charged a premium in a Caruso deal and teams still would’ve paid it,” writes the B/R analyst. “Multiple first-round picks were not out of the question.”
“Given Chicago’s low-hanging ceiling, it should have let Caruso, who’s closing in on his 30th birthday, go and received the kind of assets needed to build up this roster to a point where it can actually compete for something of substance.”
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