NBA Rumors: Chicago Bulls unlikely to acquire Carmelo Anthony and Arron Afflalo
The Chicago Bulls plan on being major players this offseason.
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The Bulls will likely make runs at all of the big names like Miami Heat forward LeBron James, Minnesota Timberwolves’ power forward Kevin Love and Miami Heat forward LeBron James. The team is said to covet Anthony more than Love and because acquiring James is probably a bit of a long-shot, they will likely focus on Anthony.
Lately, there has been a lot of chatter about the Bulls acquiring Orlando Magic guard Arron Afflalo. The Bulls have plenty of assets and the Magic would probably like to trade Afflalo to clear a spot for Victor Oladipo, who was the 2013-2014 runner up for the Rookie of the Year Award, and their other wing players. The Bulls also believe that adding Afflalo would be enticing to Anthony.
However, there is a problem with that scenario.
According to Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors, the Bulls will have trouble affording both Afflalo and Anthony.
"Not realistically, without trading Noah or doing something rash like that. Even if Anthony takes a pretty healthy discount and signs for $18MM, you’d still have Afflalo at $7.5MM and Rose at almost $19MM."
Anthony put up 27.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game last season and shot 45.2% from the field, 40.2% from beyond the arc and 84.8% from the free throw line. Afflalo, who is reportedly open to being dealt to a playoff team, had the best season of his career last season. He averaged 18.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 45.9% from the field, 42.7% from beyond the arc and 81.5% from the free throw line.