NBA Trade Deadline 2020: One trade every team should make

Chicago Bulls: Thaddeus Young, Cristiano Felicio, Coby White and own top-4 protected 2020 first-rounder for the New Orleans Pelicans’ Jrue Holiday and Jahlil Okafor

Reason for Chicago: Coby White is tough to lose, but he projects to be a gunner who’s not terribly efficient from the field, and not great at anything else. Thad Young is very good but dissatisfied, and Cristiano Felicio is a fine young big, but not too much more than that. The Bulls wouldn’t give away anything foundational to the team; in fact, come to mention it, what’s really foundational to this team? Maybe Lauri Markkanen? Maybe Wendell Carter Jr.? It’s possible neither becomes an All-Star in their respective careers. That’s sort of the point of this trade. Jrue Holiday is fantastic on both ends, and he will be excellent setting the tables for Chicago’s young bigs and helping them improve. Tomas Satoranksy is fine, but Holiday is a huge upgrade at the point guard position, and Chicago will finally have a star for the first time in a few years. This would fast-track the rebuild, probably without doing any permanent damage, especially with this year’s draft projecting to be relatively weak.

Reason for New Orleans: Holiday doesn’t fit the timeline of this team at all. Maybe the Pelicans stick around and steal the eighth seed, but more likely, they don’t make the playoffs or get a high draft pick if they keep him. Instead, New Orleans should deal Holiday for the classic package: a promising young player in White, a solid vet in Young and draft considerations. White is young and can score, and those players can end up growing into real contributors. The pick, if it doesn’t convey this year, would be quite valuable with lesser restrictions in future years. Furthermore, Jahlil Okafor shouldn’t get any time on the Pels when the team is healthy, with Derrick Favors, Jaxson Hayes, Nicolo Melli, and soon, Zion Williamson, ahead of him on the depth chart. But Okafor has had promising stretches this year, and Chicago could use a big. Consider this a sweetener to Chicago without costing the Pelicans much. Furthermore, the Pelicans break Holiday’s salary into a few different parts, and Young or Felicio are extremely tradeable if New Orleans wants to flip them elsewhere. Talent, assets and flexibility. That’s a good haul, even for a player the caliber of Jrue Holiday.