5 teams that should trade for Ben Simmons this offseason

2. Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls are a team that is caught in the middle. They have a young star in Zach LaVine and a star big man in Nikola Vucevic to win now but have a roster that lacks experience or defensive ability. With Ben Simmons potentially being available this offseason, the Bulls should be one of the teams to make a move for him. He could be the difference between them becoming a contender or still being a bottom feeder in the Eastern Conference.

The biggest way Simmons would help Chicago is on defense. The Bulls lacked any kind of perimeter defense, which contributed to their season struggles. As a two-time All-NBA defense selectee, Simmons would immediately help those issues. He’s one of the few players who can guard 1 through 5 on the court. The defensive versatility will be a good building block for Chicago to establish an identity on that end of the floor.

There was once the thought that LaVine and Simmons could be exchanged for each other in a trade package. Although the likelihood of that is the same as Simmons’ making a free throw, they can still join forces on the same team. These two in the same backcourt spell all kinds of troubles for NBA defense. Not to mention Vucevic’s playmaking ability will allow more cutting and off-ball opportunities for Simmons.

It would be hard for the Bulls to work out a trade for Ben Simmons, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. First, they’d likely have to part ways with some of their young talents, which might not be worth it for a player with such debilitating limits offensively. Also, they don’t have many draft picks at their disposal after using three to acquire Vucevic. It’ll take some number crunching, but if there’s a way Chicago can acquire a star talent like Simmons, you do what you can to get him.