The Nuggets need a talent upgrade to win a second championship. The Bulls must trade star Zach LaVine to retain their 2025 draft pick and further retool a roster with a low cap. Could a deal between the two sides be in the works?

According to reports from Tony Jones and Sam Amick of The Athletic, the answer could be yes. Those two released a report Tuesday night indicating that the Nuggets have “expressed interest in” LaVine, among other players. They added that “the focus on LaVine is significant in recent discussions.”

The Nuggets are in a tight financial situation. They are above the first apron, meaning they cannot take back more salary than they spend in a deal. And they don’t have many tradeable contracts. Michael Porter Jr.’s $35.8 million salary would have to be one of the expenses in any major trade.

According to Amick and Jones, Zeke Nnaji is also available. More importantly, this type of deal may involve draft picks switching sides. “Any significant deal the Nuggets would make may also need to include a pick swap as sweetener,” the report from The Athletic said.

Here’s how this LaVine trade would play out and whether it makes sense for both sides.

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Zach LaVine traded to the Nuggets

The trade

Nuggets received:

Get bulls:

• Michael Porter Jr.
• Zeke Nnaji

Why the Nuggets do it

Nikola Jokic will likely win his fourth MVP award this season, and the Nuggets will waste his historic performance if they don’t seriously improve their roster. Jamal Murray didn’t look like the player he was during his championship run, and Denver didn’t get enough of the rest of its roster.

The Nuggets are aware of this fact and are therefore looking for upgrades. They don’t have much to offer. According to Amick and Jones, that puts them in the running for names like LaVine, Jordan Poole, Jordan Clarkson, De’Andre Hunter, Cam Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas.

LaVine is undoubtedly the most talented offensive player in this group. He is a proficient 3-point shooter, shooting 42.8% this season and 38.4% for his career. That’s a much-needed skill for a Nuggets squad that ranks 26th in 3-pointers made this season – even though Jokic has made an incredible 48.9% of his 3-pointers this year.

LaVine is more than just a shooter. The two-time dunk champion has a great first step and shoots 56.9% from the 3-point arc. He can take his shot whenever he wants, which would help bolster a terrible bench unit that is outscored at 16.6 points per 100 possessions when Jokic is on the bench.

LaVine is overpaid relative to his production, which has led to a stagnant market for him. But no one doubts he’s a good player, and he’s the most talented guy the Nuggets can get considering they don’t have any first-round picks to offer. And considering Jokic has made his teammates look great in the past, he should be even better in Denver.

Torrey Craig is a throw-in as part of this deal. The former Nugget is still a useful rotation player, which the Nuggets need given their shaky bench. By including him in this trade (he can be included on a minimum salary exception), the Bulls can create a $2.8 million trade exception that could be useful in future deals. The Nuggets would also benefit from this as they won’t find a better player than Craig on the road.

The Nuggets are reportedly seeking some sort of draft equity as part of a Nnaji and Porter trade. The Bulls shouldn’t offer one, but they’ve been killed on the sidelines in pretty much every trade the current regime has made. The trade put together is fair, but perhaps the Nuggets are negotiating a first-round pick swap that could turn one of their late first-rounders into a lottery pick.

Why the Bulls do it

The Bulls will need to improve significantly this season to retain their top-10 protected pick for 2025. If the season ended today, they would have a 20.2% chance of sending a late lottery pick to the Spurs. And more than just retaining the pick, they need a chance to draft one of the top players like Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper who could truly turn the franchise’s fortunes around.

Moving LaVine is the quickest way to fall to the bottom of the standings. The Bulls are 1-3 in games he has missed, with their only victory being a 122-121 victory against a weak Raptors team that was missing several starters. He was considered a losing player, but the team’s performance this season proves otherwise.

Acquiring Porter would certainly be a risk for the Bulls. He is a talented shooter and rebounder who has hit 38.5% of his threes this season and averaged 18.5 points per game. And he’s three years younger than LaVine, making him more in line with the team’s current timeline.

However, Porter poses a constant risk of injury and the Bulls have not had great luck with such players in the past. He was red flagged in the draft due to back problems, which caused him to miss his entire rookie year and most of his fourth year. He also has to wear a custom ankle brace at all times, which severely limits his freedom of movement due to injuries affecting his left leg.

Porter is in the third year of a five-year extension worth $179 million. If he gets injured again, that contract could be a drag on a team’s books for several years. Although his passing ability has improved this year and he has worked on becoming a much better defender, he is still a detriment overall in both areas.

Nevertheless, 26-year-old shooters with Porter’s height of 1.80 m don’t come along often. There’s a reason he was considered the No. 1 player in his high school class and was selected in the lottery of the 2018 draft.

The bigger problem for the Bulls would be facing Nnaji, who was a first-round pick himself in the 2020 draft but has been a major disappointment since signing a four-year, $32 million contract. There’s a chance he recovers and lives up to this deal, but it’s more likely his money eats up the team’s cap space by the time he becomes a free agent in 2028. He needs to be included in the deal to match LaVine’s salary.

The reality is that the Bulls probably can’t move LaVine without getting a poor salary back. Given the constraints of the new collective agreement, it is too difficult to make another deal.

A player of LaVine’s caliber would have gotten a lot more in previous seasons, but this is about the best he can hope for. A bad contract and a good young player who is also slightly overpaid is not a bad package for LaVine. However, the real prize of this trade will be the player Chicago receives in the 2025 draft.