Chicago Bulls trying to trade Carlos Boozer for Pau Gasol
By Josh Hill
The Chicago Bulls are looking to acquire Carmelo Anthony from the New York Knicks in a sign-and-trade, or just sign Melo straight up on the open market, but neither of those plans are looking likely to happen anytime soon.
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Chicago can only offer Melo so much money before having to get rid of valuable assets and they may need to do that anyways with the offer they already have for the forward. With talks there breaking down, the Bulls seem ready to swiftly move onto Plan B should they lose Melo this weekend.
According to the Chicago Tribune and beat writer K.C. Johnson, the Bulls are hoping to engage in sign-and-trade talks with the Lakers that would see Carlos Boozer dangled in exchange for Pau Gasol.
"A source said the Bulls would hope to engage the Lakers in sign-and-trade possibilities should they get a verbal commitment from Gasol. The Bulls would dangle the expiring $16.8 million contract of Carlos Boozer and likely would have to include sweeteners, possibly in the form of draft picks. Steve Nash has an expiring deal the Lakers have shopped in the past."
These talks, or the hope for them to happen, are a direct result of the Knicks starting to run away with the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes as Gasol has long been Plan B for the Bulls. That doesn’t mean they’ll get him but it means that their efforts have been stepped up and the focus will begin to shift from acquiring Anthony to acquiring Gasol.