NBA trade rumors: Bulls exploring Kemba Walker deal with Celtics

Is Kemba Walker on his way to the Chicago Bulls?

The Chicago Bulls are clearly fed up with their substandard play over the last few years, and moves like hiring Billy Donovan as the next head coach prove that they are serious about competing for a postseason spot in the wide-open Eastern Conference.

While Coby White showed plenty of promise last year, it appears as though new GM Arturas Karnisovas has his eyes set on an All-Star caliber player in Kemba Walker.

Kevin O’Conner of The Ringer is reporting that the Bulls have contacted the Boston Celtics about potentially acquiring Walker, who signed a four-year, $140 million deal in a sign-and-trade that got him away from the Charlotte Hornets in 2019.

Kemba Walker helped the Celtics make the Eastern Conference Finals last year

After putting up All-Star numbers on some bad Charlotte teams, Walker left for Boston, where he filled the void Kyrie Irving created during his departure. While Walker’s scoring averaged dipped to 20.4 points per game by way of sharing the ball with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, he had Boston just a few games away from reaching the NBA Finals.

The Bulls might’ve been rebuilding for the last few years, and trading away one of their alleged centerpieces in White might be a tough pill to swallow, but adding Walker to a young core that includes an automatic 20 points per night in Zach LaVine, the uniquely talented Lauri Markkanen, and the improving Wendell Carter could be enough to set Chicago apart in the East.

The Bulls have had enough of festering in the lottery, as Karnisovas thinks this team is one piece away from finally getting back to the postseason. While Walker will require a lot of assets to be flipped in Boston’s direction, he is talented enough to galvanize this team and get them to a place they haven’t been in half a decade.