Before the Golden State Warriors waived Chris Paul on Sunday, they turned down a trade proposal involving Chicago Bulls wing Zach LaVine, according to Bleacher Report's Chris Haynes.
"I was told that the Chicago Bulls were trying to get something going with the Golden State Warriors, trying to get a Zach LaVine package together," Haynes said in an appearance on NBA TV. "What I was told: It could have been Zach LaVine for Chris Paul or Andrew Wiggins."
It is no secret that the Warriors were trying to use Paul's contract, which included $30 million of non-guaranteed salary, to upgrade their roster. Paul had already agreed to push his guarantee date back from Friday to Sunday, but, according to Haynes, he was not willing to move it back again.
After rejecting the Bulls' offer -- and, presumably, any other offers that were on the table involving Paul -- Golden State decided to waive Paul, and general manager Mike Dunleavy called the future Hall of Famer to deliver the news. Paul is now an unrestricted free agent, while Wiggins and LaVine -- former teammates with the Minnesota Timberwolves -- remain with the Warriors and Bulls, respectively... for now, at least.
Some thoughts/questions:
- What exactly did Chicago offer? Did it propose multiple trades that would have sent LaVine to Golden State, with some including Wiggins and some including Paul? Who else came up in these conversations? Paul's salary is significantly smaller than LaVine's, and Wiggins' is even smaller than that.
- How is one supposed to value LaVine in this new salary-cap environment? The 29-year-old's production has slipped since he made the All-Star Game in 2021 and 2022, he's coming off foot surgery and any team acquiring him would have to be OK with paying him about $50 million during the 2026-27 season. Wiggins' contract ends at the same time, and, even when you factor in his injury history (and his own decline in the seasons since Golden State's 2022 title), he likely has more trade value than LaVine simply because he'll only be making about $30 million in the final season of the deal.
- I don't see LaVine as a good fit in Steve Kerr's offense. I understand that the Warriors feel like they did whatever they could to get Paul George and came up short. I'm still a bit stunned, though, that their offseason has started this way. It looks like they're going to wave goodbye to franchise legend Klay Thompson, and, beyond what they can get in a potential sign-and-trade with him, they're going to... run back what remains of last year's roster? This is not ideal.
- With Paul off the books and Golden State (as of now, at least) well under the luxury-tax threshold, it could conceivably make Thompson a competitive offer in free agency. Are we 100000% sure that the Warriors and Thompson are parting ways? It's not like he's agreed to a new contract yet, and, even if he had done that, maybe the whole team could show up at his home or something.
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