CHICAGO — Zach LaVine would “fit in fine” with Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets, according to one rival Western Conference scout who spoke under the condition of anonymity.
“He probably needs to be in a different environment,” the scout said. “There are not a lot of guys who can do what he does. I’ve always been a big fan, actually. Not as your No. 1 guy, not as your No. 2 guy, but as your No. 3 guy.”
With the Nuggets reportedly showing significant interest in LaVine, the Chicago Bulls again have a motivated trade partner who can help facilitate the next phase of their roster reconstruction. LaVine, 29, has become the franchise’s next logical departure since the Bulls parted ways with DeMar DeRozan this summer. But since the start of last season, when the Bulls and LaVine became open to a trade, Chicago has hesitated to move LaVine because of a lack of desired compensation. The sticking point even through offseason negotiations — and the reason a deal was never consummated — was the Bulls’ refusal to include additional assets to move LaVine.
Now, thanks in part to LaVine’s impressive early-season performance, the Bulls might not have to. If the Nuggets are truly enamored with LaVine and open for business, they would effectively fulfill the Bulls’ wildest dream. Chicago’s chief basketball executive, Artūras Karnišovas, has said the team’s rebuilding efforts aren’t finished. A suitor stepping in for LaVine — and potentially veteran center Nikola Vučević — before the February trade deadline was a possibility the Bulls were expected to explore.
But for a championship-caliber team like the Nuggets to start circling is a testament to how LaVine has willed himself into a reclamation project gone right. LaVine appeared in only 25 contests last season. His final game was in mid-January before he underwent surgery on his right foot in February. Many assumed LaVine might have played his last game for the Bulls.
Chicago traded DeRozan to the Sacramento Kings and Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder this offseason, signaling the end of a short-lived era while leaving observers in suspense over when LaVine and Vučević, 34, would also be traded. Neither aligns with a long-term plan as the Bulls transition to a youth movement. Eleven players on Chicago’s roster are 25 or younger. Finding a new home for LaVine and Vučević would free minutes and possibly bring back promising, younger prospects the Bulls can build around. The Nuggets reportedly would include sharpshooter Michael Porter Jr., 26, in a potential deal for LaVine.
“He’s obviously going to have to defer,” the scout said of LaVine. “But the thing about Jokić is he makes everybody better. I’d be champing at the bit to be playing off of him. I think (LaVine) will fit in fine. Jokić is so special, he makes guys better probably more than anybody in the entire league.”
In LaVine, the Nuggets would be getting one of the league’s most efficient wing scorers. And as he’s adjusted his game to suit the Bulls’ preferred playing style, LaVine basically has spent the first third of the season auditioning to become third banana on a team like the Nuggets.
LaVine is averaging 21.7 points while shooting 50 percent from the field and a career-high 42.8 percent from 3-point range on 7.5 attempts per game. The beauty of LaVine’s game this season is he’s done much more with far less. He’s averaging only 15.7 shot attempts. Over his first five healthy seasons with the Bulls, that number was 18.6.
LaVine’s usage rate has dipped to 25 percent, slightly higher than his Chicago-tenure low of 23.8 percent during last year’s injury-riddled season. In all of LaVine’s other seasons with the Bulls, his usage hovered between 27.8 percent and 31.2 percent. LaVine has attempted at least 20 shots only five times in his 23 game appearances.
“I don’t think that’s the style of play that we’re playing right now,” LaVine said. “There might be a game that I need to go out there and try to go out and lead the team offensively, but this year has been more in spurts.”
LaVine vowed at media day to put aside his frustration, which stemmed from rampant losing and his name constantly being in trade rumors, and be a team player. Still, until he proved he could coexist on a revamped roster, LaVine’s previous ball-dominant ways stood in obvious contrast to the direction the Bulls want to go.
For the past several seasons, the Bulls have attempted to ditch their reliance on isolation basketball and implement a faster pace and more ball movement. LaVine, by simply being the team’s most talented player, threatened to sabotage that if he didn’t buy-in. Additionally, had he stubbornly resisted and stuck to doing things his way, LaVine would have stunted the growth of Bulls guards Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu. With the arrival of guard Josh Giddey, who was acquired in the Caruso trade, the Bulls’ backcourt appeared to no longer need LaVine.
But that was always a false assumption.
What the Bulls no longer needed was for LaVine to carry the scoring load every night. He’s led the team in scoring only 11 times. Chicago is just 3-8 when that happens. Instead, the Bulls are at their best when LaVine isn’t the offensive focal point but rather a fantastic finisher in a continuously flowing system.
He’s once again deadly as a catch-and-shoot artist, hitting 43.5 percent on 3s in those situations. It’s LaVine’s highest percentage on catch-and-shoot 3s since he was selected as an All-Star during back-to-back seasons in 2021 and 2022.
“I think I’ve done a good job of picking my spots, being effective, being efficient,” LaVine said. “I still think I can do better. There have been some games where I didn’t shoot the ball particularly well.”
Simply by being back in the lineup, LaVine has helped change the Bulls’ shot profile, lifting Chicago to second in 3-point attempts from last year’s 26th ranking. Defenses have to account for LaVine no matter the situation.
“He’s one guy who can do it off the dribble, he can do it on the break, and he can do it in isolation or off pick-and-roll,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said.
LaVine also plays a sizable role in the Bulls leading the league in pace. He remains one of the games most athletic players, despite being in his 11th season with multiple surgeries now in his past. His turnovers can come in bunches when he plays too fast with the ball in his hands, but as an outlet who can fill the lanes and finish with authority or get fouled, LaVine is lethal.
“He’s top five in transition points,” Donovan added. “He’s getting out and he’s really running. … He’s really tried to help us establish the identity of the style of play and how we’re trying to play.”
Defensively, in the absence of Caruso and given the shortcomings of Giddey on that end, LaVine has had to assume a larger responsibility. He’s accepted the challenge by chasing opposing teams’ best wing players. LaVine has had fun with the task, leaning into his strengths as a more polished on-ball stopper than team defender.
“I try to take those assignments on for the team,” LaVine said. “I think it’s been good for us, especially in those one-on-one situations where I can try to lock into a guy. Against the top dudes in the league, they’re going to get their points; it’s just how can you make it tough on them?”
LaVine looks and sounds like a different player in so many ways. His role this season has made him think back to some of the game’s greats.
“It’s opened my eyes up a little bit to where you look at the guys I watched: Kobe, Michael, D. Wade,” LaVine said. “I’ve always been in great shape. But, OK, you have to be not just in top-tier conditioning, you have to be strong, too. It takes a (toll), but I think the mental side of that is where you have to dig deep and figure out how to get it done and how much you want it. I like taking on those challenges right now.”
LaVine isn’t just quietly crafting a stellar, comeback season. In his eighth season in Chicago, he has morphed into his most mature version. That player is someone who is now placing greater emphasis on the little things and picking up slack defensively while sacrificing shots to adopt a new style.
It’s a version of LaVine the Bulls have long-coveted.
“There are a lot of naysayers, no doubt about it,” the scout said. “‘His defense is bad. He’s not a winning player, blah, blah, blah.’ You can make that argument: ‘He hasn’t really elevated the Bulls. So if he’s that good, why haven’t they been better?’ I think part of it is he just has too prominent of a role.
“You don’t want him as your No. 1 guy. If he’s your No. 3 guy, I think you’re ahead of the game. You’re not relying on him every single night.”
(Top photo: Matt Marton / Imagn Images)
