Bulls may need to give up assets to trade Zach LaVine

Zach LaVine isn't drawing the trade interest the Chicago Bulls hoped for. The two-time All-Star's contract is likely a major sticking point for any interested team. 

He is in the second year of a five-year $215M deal. His average annual salary is $43M. LaVine is widely considered as a secondary or tertiary option on a contending team, yet his contract is what you would expect for an All-NBA type of talent. 

According to Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times, the Bulls may need to attach future assets to a trade in order to entice teams to trade for LaVine. 

"The trade market for him around the league, sources say, is so rough that the thought is Chicago should have to add stuff in a LaVine trade to get off the contract," Woike reported. 

LaVine is averaging 20.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists on 45.2% shooting and 34.8% from three-point range. He's putting those numbers up as a primary ball-handler and featured scorer for the Bulls. 

Logically thinking, if he were to move to a new team and become a secondary or tertiary option, that output would begin to dip. Paying a player north of $40M for that type of production can kill a team's cap sheet. 

As such, any interested party would need to be sure LaVine could move the needle for them. He would have to be the piece that took a team from a potential playoff threat to bona fide contenders. Otherwise, they could find themselves stuck in NBA purgatory with an albatross of a contract hanging around their neck. 

Chicago may be better served holding onto LaVine until the summer. Teams will have a better idea of where their rosters currently stand. They could be tempted into swinging for an All-Star caliber ball-handler and working around such a big contract when they have multiple months of downtime to reshape their rosters.

LaVine's future is far from certain. However, his current production and his contract value aren't lining up. Chicago is facing an uphill battle in their attempts to trade him, and that will limit their chances of re-tooling their own middling roster. 

It's going to be a tough road to the Feb. 8 trade deadline in the Windy City.