No team in the league is going to be thrilled to acquire a 45 million dollar contract for a player that doesn't meet that level of productivity, however, lavine is playing well enough that some suitors with the space to get him are most likely testing the waters - and I doubt there is a better fit for him anywhere else outside of Detroit. Let me explain the genius of this trade if the pistons FO were to execute it, and why it's fair value for chicago.

First, i'll go over how this trade works. You're getting rid of your starting shooting guard who's on a one-year deal, an underperforming bench piece on a two-year and a promising prospect ready for extension in exchange for 45 million dollar zach lavine and torrey craig to temporarily fill the hole left by fontecchio.

Outside of the great fit zach lavine would have next to cade as a scorer, the true genius of this trade lies in the salary management. Even after acquiring Zach, the pistons would be only $171,000 above their cap space (per Fanspo) giving them unmatched flexibility in the league for this season before cade's extension hits: and that's not even the best part! The only person you'd have to worry about resigning is beasley who's on a one year deal, and most of the young core (exception being ausar, his contract ends after the 2026-27 season) have contracts ending after the 2025-26 season, conveniently when Tobias expires (if the pistons haven't already traded him for a new player) freeing up roughly $26,600,000 dollars in space! Pistons would have extreme freedom in comparison to other contenders in making updates to their roster as they progress from pretenders to (hopefully) legitimate contenders, and unlike a certain overpaid phoenix suns guard, zach doesn't have a no trade clause, so if things really get dicey you can try and trade him!

For the bulls: It's been pretty clear that your offers for zach lavine are pretty slim, and the ones that are given aren't up to the quality that you would prefer. In this scenario, instead of taking on a contract like MPJ or whatever salaries you may get for zach, you get very short manageable contracts; one of them being a guard prospect you can develop if you decide to move on from lonzo or any of your other guards with three second round picks. At this stage in the season, it's take what you can get, and I doubt you find an offer that can outclass contract flexibility, a young talented prospect and future draft capital (and no, you most likely are not going to be getting a first round pick for zach lavine).

Detroit's starting and bench lineup for the rest of the season would most likely be:

Cunningham - Lavine - Ausar - Harris - Duren/Stew

Sasser - Beasley - Craig - Holland - Duren/Stew

Comment what you think!