NBA Insider Doesn’t Expect Lakers To Pursue Zach LaVine Trade With Bulls

NBA insider Jovan Buha of The Athletic doesn’t expect the Los Angeles Lakers to pursue a Zach LaVine trade with the Chicago Bulls this offseason. 

Buha, who covers the Lakers for The Athletic, believes LaVine’s injury history hurts his chances of being traded to Los Angeles to play with fellow Klutch Sports Group clients LeBron James and Anthony Davis. 

“Now could those talks be revisited this summer? I don’t know,” Buha said on his podcast. “I would guess not. I think if you look at what the Lakers need, Zach LaVine checks some of the boxes, but he is a step down from the Donovan Mitchell–Trae Young tier. … There’s also now a mounting history of injuries with him, particularly lower extremity injuries with his knees and now his feet.

“So I think the injury history, mixed with him not being at the level of third star that the Lakers are looking for, that combination, to me, makes it unlikely he ends up being a Laker.”

The Bulls will attempt to trade LaVine this offseason after failing to find a taker for him this season, sources told Hoops Wire.

LaVine played in just 25 games this season. He underwent season-ending right foot surgery in February.

A two-time All-Star, LaVine averaged 19.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists this season while shooting 45.2% from the field, 34.9% from beyond the arc and 85.4% from the free-throw line.

LaVine signed a five-year, $215 million contract with the Bulls in July 2022. He’ll make $43 million next season and $45 million in 2025-26.

A UCLA product, LaVine has career averages of 20.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.3 blocks with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Bulls. Chicago has won only one playoff game since acquiring LaVine from Minnesota in 2017. 

The Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of this year’s playoffs in five games. Darvin Ham was fired as head coach and it’s widely believed that Los Angeles will hire former NBA guard and current ESPN commentator JJ Redick as its new coach. 

Per Buha, the Lakers are expected to be aggressive on the trade market.