Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls had one of the best offseasons out of any team in the league and while they have missed the playoffs the last four seasons, they are inching closer to being an actual “lock” for the postseason in the Eastern Conference. Now, anything can happen in an 82-game season and injuries will occur, but on paper, a core of Lonzo Ball, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Patrick Williams and Nikola Vucevic makes up a really strong starting five that should be able to contend in the postseason.
How the Bulls fill out the rest of their roster will be interesting to see, but they will have Alex Caruso, Coby White (injured), Javonte Green, Troy Brown Jr. and Tony Bradley as key bench options, as well as rookie Ayo Dosunmu. Filling out their second-unit will be key for the Bulls and they will have to better their offensive attack off-the-bench, which is why they could show interest in Malik Beasley.
He is exactly the kind of high-power offensive threat they need on their bench and with virtually no depth behind LaVine and DeRozan on the wing, the Bulls could really benefit from adding Beasley. They actually have a means of doing so as well since the Timberwolves are also looking to fill out the rest of their roster and have been eyeballing Lauri Markkanen.
The Bulls’ young forward is still a restricted free agent that has yet to make a decision in free agency, so Chicago could look to execute a sign-and-trade with Minnesota in order to acquire Malik Beasley. Hypothetically, if Markkanen was willing to come down on price and sign anywhere from a $12M-$15M/year contract with the Timberwolves, then the Bulls could have an avenue to getting Beasley from Minnesota.
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All of this would depend on whether or not the Timberwolves are willing to invest a lot of money though into Lauri Markkanen, especially this late in the offseason. Nonetheless, this is definitely a situation for the Bulls to consider, especially since they have a need for more bench talent and Markkanen may not want to return to Chicago.
