NBA Trade Rumors: Chicago Bulls wouldn’t reject trade offer for Luol Deng but won’t shop him

This whole past week has been filled with trade rumors in the NBA and while Omer Asik dominated most of the headlines, other names are floating around as well. One of those names is Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng, a player Chicago finally said yesterday that they wouldn’t trade. But Chicago Tribune reporter K.C. Johnson is calling any reports that the Bulls wouldn’t trade Deng misleading as Johnson reports Chicago won’t be shopping Deng but won’t reject every single deal that is offered to them.

Johnson states that the Bulls want to hang onto Deng past the trade deadline this year but if a trade comes along that they can’t refuse, they aren’t going to.

This is a tricky play for the Bulls who were pretty much actively shopping Deng this past week by letting it be known the forward could be had at the right price. There have been reports of tension between Tom Thibodeau and the Bulls front office over trading core players, and this move is one by the Bulls front office to both shop Deng and make Thibodeau happy.

Basically, the Bulls are waiting for an offer to come to them after dangling Deng on the trade block all week. They can claim they haven’t been shopping him but teams around the NBA now he’s available at the right price and moving the Bulls forward before the deadline is still a possibility, no matter how slim it may actually be.