NBA Trade Deadline: Top 5 draft-altering trades

5. Otto Porter to the Chicago Bulls

The question about the 2018-19 Chicago Bulls isn’t whether the tank has been rumbling at full speed, but simply when it started.

You could argue that it began in full force when head coach Fred Hoiberg was fired, although the more appropriate answer is that it really started rolling the day they signed Jabari Parker, ostensibly to be their starting small forward. It was a move that was widely panned at the time, and sure enough, played out about as you’d expect. The Bulls have been a disaster and were 2-14 in their last 16 games heading into the deadline.

It’s the reason that the Otto Porter move was so curious. Despite the team missing rookie stud Wendell Carter Jr. for the foreseeable future due to a thumb injury, Porter is just good enough to swing a game or two. Will he? In his first game in Chicago red Friday night, he scored 18 points as the Bulls beat the playoff-bound Nets in Brooklyn.

Try this one on for size: Chicago has three games remaining with the Washington Wizards, the team that just dealt Porter away. They also have two left versus the tanking Grizzlies, Knicks and Hawks, respectively, and a trip to Phoenix.

Currently, the Bulls are only two games “ahead” of the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third spot in the lottery (i.e., the last spot before the odds for the top pick begin to decrease). The Cavs got Kevin Love back, but Porter’s presence might still be enough to prevent Chicago from reaching that coveted top-three position.

Why might this matter, big picture-wise? Simple: Anthony Davis is from Chicago, and while all the messaging has been that he has no desire to play for his hometown team, you never know how things could develop. If they landed the first pick, it would at least make things interesting.