A little under 24 hours left until the trade deadline comes to a halt. With rumors and speculations surrounding the Chicago Bulls, everyone hopes that at least one of them would be more fact than fiction. As the second half of the season is about to start and the push for a spot in the top eight seeds in the East gets tougher, the Bulls are looking to make a trade to improve the team before it is too late. One of the players the Bulls are aggressively shopping is…Pau Gasol?
Pau Gasol Up For Grabs?
Earlier this season, the Bulls center did hint about not looking forward to re-sign with the team this off season. With a player that is more than likely wanting to play somewhere else, would now be a good time to trade Gasol instead of letting him leave and end up with nothing to start the next season with?
Joakim Noah was a front runner of the Bulls making a trade weeks before the Deadline, however, due to Noah’s season ending injury, he is of no value for other team’s interests. Taj Gibson has been in trade rumors as well, but he is not as valuable of a trade as Noah was prior to injury, and not as valuable as Gasol is now. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, the 35-year-old center can opt out of his contract this summer and become an unrestricted free agent.
Wojnarowski also stated that “Gasol will more than likely decline the player option on the $7.4 million owed to him in the 2016-2017 season.” Bulls general manager Gar Forman, as written in Yahoo Sports column, seems to be more determined into moving Gasol before Thursday’s 3 PM deadline. This season, Gasol is averaging a double-double with17 ppg and 10.9 rpg.
If Forman is able to move Gasol under 24 hours, he needs to find a player that will satisfy the Bulls’ fan base and fill in the missing spot that Gasol filled up. This player has to be both an offensive and defensive threat. If he can’t move Gasol, or anyone before the deadline, then the second half of the season might mirror the Bulls’ nightmarish first half of the season.