The Running of the Bulls pt. 2
TL;DR
Bulls trade for Jalen Green and build a fast-paced, athletic team with Josh Giddey at the point diming up the speedsters
Rockets trade in Jalen Green’s value for a better team fit in Coby White as well as some shooting off the bench
Wizards facilitate the trade and get 2 lottery picks out of it
The Bulls Perspective
Quick preamble: I originally included an additional trade with the Warriors for the Bulls to get Kuminga, but I don’t know if the Bulls would be willing to include enough draft capital for the Warriors to take on Vucevic and Lonzo’s contracts. Perhaps a 3-teamer sending Vuc to the Nets with draft capital, Claxton to the Warriors, and Kuminga to the Bulls. Idk, anyway…
New Core
Josh Giddey
Jalen Green
Matas Buzelis
the #18 overall pick (Asa Newell?)
Also Ayo Dosunmu, Jalen Smith, Patrick Williams?
Coby White showed a lot of potential at the end of this season, but I think most people would agree that Jalen Green has more star potential. He’s also a better fit next to Giddey both in age and play style.
Given the Bulls’ constant middling results, they’re unlikely to find a true star level talent in the draft, so their best bet is to acquire players with high upside who have found themselves on a team that doesn’t need what they have to offer and bet on that talent turning into something. That’s what they did with Josh Giddey, who revitalized his value with a fresh start on the Bulls last season. Perhaps they can build the team of misfit toys.
It’s not hard to picture how these misfits fit together. Just imagine Josh Giddey throwing the ball up to Jalen Green and Matas Buzelis (+Newell/Kuminga if possible) on lob after lob after lob- not to mention the transition play. With the right offense based around cutting hard off-ball and constant movement, Green and Buzelis will inevitably be able to capitalize on advantages created in order to beat their defender off the dribble or dive to the basket for a backdoor pass from Giddey. The fast-tempo, high-flying offense at the very least will fill seats at the United Center and could potentially grow into much more. I’ve already come up with a tagline for this young athletic team- “The Running of The Bulls.”
The Rockets Perspective
With the KD trade talks this offseason and Jalen Green’s contract and present inefficiencies being a sticking point, I think Green’s value will only continue to decline. The Rockets don’t have time to sit on their hands hoping Jalen Green hits his highest end outcome, especially given their rapid ascension into serious playoff contender. You can’t take home-court advantage in the playoffs for granted- just ask the Grizzlies and Kings.
The Rockets’ roster is about to become very expensive. They have Jabari and Tari’s extensions coming next offseason and Amen Thompson’s assumably rookie max extension the following year. With Jalen Green and Sengun on near max contracts and VanVleet’s >$30mil extension likely coming this offseason, they quickly need to figure out who is going to be moving forward with them. They can focus on keeping their core identity of big, gritty defenders if they are able to move off Green and VanVleet’s contracts.
With this trade, Coby White fills in for Jalen Green as a more efficient starting 2-guard while picking up backup point minutes when VanVleet is off the floor and he may very well be capable of taking on VanVleet’s lead PG responsibilities in the long run (and certainly much sooner than Reed Sheppard could) which would make VanVleet’s contract a solid trade asset. They would also have Huerter’s near $18mil to work with this season as well as Dillon Brooks if they need to move off more money next season.
While White’s upside may not be as high as Jalen Green’s, his fit on this team is much cleaner. This trade reinforces the team’s timeline while elevating their floor and filling in holes on the offensive end (which was the primary reason they lost in the playoffs). It also accomplishes these goals without giving up too much and losing the ability to take a swing on a superstar trade in the future.
New Starting Lineup
Fred VanVleet
Coby White
Dillon Brooks
Amen Thompson
Alperen Sengun
With Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason, Kevin Huerter, Steven Adams, Reed Sheppard, Cam Whitmore coming off the bench.
Alternatively, Coby White could come off the bench and give the Rockets a bigger, more defensive-minded starting lineup with Jabari.
I will address the 2025 pick situation in the following section.
The Wizards Perspective
This may seem a little odd at first glance for the Wizards. This is largely based off my interpretation of this year’s draft class which I’ve been a bit obsessed with.
To begin, I think the general consensus is that, following Cooper Flagg at #1 and Dylan Harper at #2, the next tier consists of Ace Bailey, V.J. Edgecombe, and Tre Johnson. I’ve seen Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach slip in there occasionally, but I expect that on draft night, those 3 will be picks 3-5 in some order. More specifically, I expect Ace and VJ to go 3/4 and whoever gets Ace will trade him to the Pelicans or Nets and Tre will go #5 to Utah. Anyways, the specifics are beside the point. I’m not a draft expert, I’m just obsessed.
Whatever the specific result, I imagine Kon Knueppel will be there at #6 and I think he is the perfect fit for Houston. Meanwhile, I don’t think the Wizards have a great option there at #6. What I think they would most like to do is draft Derik Queen. In my mind, he’s a perfect fit for Washington. He grew up down the road in Baltimore, lived several houses down from Bub Carrington when they were younger, and he’s an excellent fit next to Alex Sarr. Alex Sarr ideally will be able to space the floor for Queen to work in the paint on offense and be able to protect the rim on the defensive side, while Queen can help cover for Sarr’s rebounding liabilities. Of course, Washington could draft him at 6- it wouldn’t be the most shocking move- but why draft him there when they could trade down, get another lottery pick, and pick Queen up at #10 or #12. This trade gives Houston the opportunity to trade up for Knueppel and gives Washington the opportunity to maximize their draft picks.
With Washington’s other lottery pick, I’m less particular about who they take, but I think Carter Bryant would be a great option. The Wizards currently have a lack of size in their young core and a larger defensive minded player with a lot of upside would be a great fit with the culture they’ve been building.
As I alluded to in the Bulls perspective section, I think Asa Newell would be a great option for them at pick #18 to fit into that athletic core they have started to build with this trade.
Thank you for reading. Please give any feedback you may have. This is my second version of this trade idea, edited based on comments on the first version (which I tried too hard to force Kuminga into).