The Chicago Bulls were expected to be pretty good this year with the emergence of Jimmy Butler and a healthy Derrick Rose (well as healthy as he’s gonna get apparently). Instead they’ve had a disastrous season. They’re currently sitting at 37-37, the No. 9 spot in the Eastern Conference and out of the playoffs if things don’t change in the remaining eight games. The Bulls haven’t gelled under new head coach Fred Hoiberg and with Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol becoming free agents, the team could look different next year. In fact, they may not be the only ones gone; their new franchise player could be on the way out as well.
via CBS Sports:
“I’ve been hearing rumblings that there is legitimate interest in Chicago in potentially dealing Jimmy Butler this offseason,” Mannix said in a video (6:40 mark).
It has previously been reported that the Boston Celtics tried to acquire Butler at February’s trade deadline. The Vertical also reported that “several executives point to Orlando … as a team to watch closely in the pursuit of Butler.”
The Bulls signed Butler to a five-year, $95 million max contract last summer. He’s also only 26-years old and is their leading scorer. Unless they are worried about his knee issues (scarred by the Derrick Rose saga), it doesn’t really make sense for them to move him. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what they do.
