NBA Rumors: Insider reveals Bulls are in no-man’s-land with Zach LaVine trade

According to Brian Windhorst, the Chicago Bulls would trade Zach LaVine if the right deal presented itself. The former dunk contest has just returned from a month-long injury that has made a trade nearly impossible. The market for LaVine has been non-existent as he is on a maximum contract for the next three years. With his contract in mind, the two-time all-star is most likely the third-best player on a potential championship team.

“If they could trade Zach LaVine in the next five minutes, they would trade him and Zach would happily go to the airport.”

While the Bulls' outlook has looked a lot better since Coby White started to emerge, the Bulls are still a team that is far from contending for the second round much less championship contention. Chicago has struggled to find good deals that are worth their while.

Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times reported that the market for LaVine is so rough that the team might have to add a good player or pick to get off his contract. With all of this in mind, how likely is a LaVine trade at this season's trade deadline?

How likely is a LaVine deal before the trade deadline?

Despite the lack of interest in trading for Zach LaVine, it's likely that the Bulls will trade the dunk contest champion at some point before the deadline. Chicago has a huge mess on its hand with LaVine and has been able to avoid the mess for the last month with his recent injury that kept him for most of December.

While it would not be ideal for the Bulls, the team could offer Alex Caruso to any team in the league in exchange for taking on LaVine's contract. Even without Caruso, the Bulls are likely to keep themselves in the conversation for the play-in with Atlanta, Toronto, and Brooklyn competing for the last two spots in the play-in spots.

It's is a lot of salary for one deal but this is a way for the Bulls to get rid of Zach LaVine as the team desperately wants to do.