It's no secret that the Bulls have drastically underperformed this year, and that they might look to rebuild. Other excellent trades on this website have floated the same idea, but the only guys I personally see getting sold would be Vucevic and DeRozan; a good team could still be made in the future with Lonzo, LaVine, Caruso, Patrick Williams, etc. This trade has those two getting sold, while three other underperforming teams make some upgrades.

Bulls

As previously mentioned, the Bulls are getting rid of the aging DeRozan and Vucevic, but not parting with any of their young talent. This trade has them moving the two while they still have value, and taking back Russ's large expiring deal. Vooch is expiring anyway, and DeRozan only has one additional year, so this is the time to sell high. In return, even though they swallow Russ's deal (and likely buy him out), they get 2 firsts and 2 near firsts, in Wendell Moore (pick 26 in the past draft) and their own 2nd rounder this year, which should be quite good if they do bottom out. It's not what they had in mind when they traded for DeRozan and Vooch in the first place, but that's a sunk cost, and this is a solid return for two fading stars that allows the Bulls to move forward. Opening up more playing time for Dalen Terry and Patrick Williams is a nice value-add, and it should be interesting to see what Wendell Moore could be also. With other good vets around like Goran Dragic, Derrick Jones Jr., and Javonte Green (in addition to LaVine, Caruso, and Andre Drummond), the Bulls could throw in the towel even further and stack more assets while they gun for Wembanyama. Or, perhaps Lonzo comes back healthy, replacing DeRozan and Vucevic's minutes ends up being addition by subtraction, the Bulls ride a stifling defense to the play-in. Then, this trade won't have raised their ceiling, but it will have made them younger and stocked with more assets, so either way it's a win.

Clippers

The Clippers have a moldable roster with tons of two-way wings, but frankly they have more than they can play. Robert Covington has recently been removed from the rotation, and guys like Luke Kennard, Nic Batum, and Amir Coffey are all not playing huge roles. Even more than just playing time though, they have a creation problem. As Kawhi has slowly worked his way back, Paul George is the only Clipper averaging over 15 points a game. Being balanced is good, but having no one else you can rely on nightly isn't. DeRozan immediately fixes that issue, and can give them a guy that can be a great third option (and solid playmaker) on nights when they're all healthy, and can take on a much greater scoring load when they're not. Being flanked by George, Kawhi, and Ivica Zubac will also allow DeRozan to hide defensively (the Clippers are 2nd in defensive rating currently), and save his energy to potentially be the crunchtime closer he was last year. All in all, the Clippers give up two decent forwards (including one who wasn't even playing), as well as a distant first and two late second rounders to get a third star. If you're only giving up one first and no good young players, that's a pretty cheap price to get a star at, and the contending Clips would have to pull the trigger.

Lakers

It's well-known that the Lakers have struggled this year, but LeBron doesn't have much time left. Russell Westbrook has performed admirably in his new bench role, but you can't succeed when your third-best player is a backup that doesn't fit with your two stars. The Lakers are dead last in made 3s a game, and though Russ isn't the sole problem, he certainly doesn't help. The defense has been miraculously pretty good, currently 7th in the league in defensive rating, but having no wings with size other than LeBron isn't a recipe for success; they start Troy Brown Jr. most games, for heaven's sake. Having a thin frontcourt that has forced AD to play all of his minutes at center -- which he historically hates, and which historically gets him injured -- isn't sustainable in the long term either. There are potential solutions, but the Lakers have so far been hesitant to give up both of their remaining first round picks. All the issues are interconnected; the horrible shooting on the roster forces the Lakers to play smaller and only use one big on the floor to create space for Russ (and everyone else), but they don't have the wing talent or the health to do that consistently. This trade solves all those problems at once. Vucevic could start next to Anthony Davis and take the punishment that comes from playing center, while also shooting well enough (36.0% on 4.5 3PA per game this year) to space the floor for him and LeBron. It would be similar to the role that Jonas Valanciunas plays next to Zion on the New Orleans Pelicans. Furthermore, the ball doesn't stick with him, as he's averaged more than 3 assists for 6 straight seasons, so he can keep the ball moving. Additionally, sliding AD and LeBron to their more natural forward positions will also let Troy Brown Jr. come off the bench. Now instead of having a bench full of guards (Russ, Dennis Schroder, Kendrick Nunn, Austin Reaves) and bigs (Wenyen Gabriel, Damian Jones, Thomas Bryant), they'd be essentially replacing Russ and Gabriel with three wings in Marcus Morris, Taurean Prince, and now-backup Brown Jr. (now on the bench). Morris in particular has been excellent this year, and is actually currently the second-leading scorer on the Clippers. Both he and Prince are shooting around 39% from deep on 6 attempts per 36, and provide hard-nosed, stocky defense. That's much more than can be said of Juan Toscano-Anderson or Matt Ryan, who are the only true wings off the bench the Lakers have currently. There are certainly more flashy options available. Buddy Hield and Myles Turner are supposedly available if the Lakers part with both firsts, guys like John Collins or Bojan Bogdanovic could probably be had in the right deal, and the Lakers could even target DeRozan themselves if they wanted (righting the wrongs of not choosing him over Russ in the first place). But even if Hield/Turner offer the most shooting, Collins the most youth, and DeRozan the most star-power, none of those deals offer everything. In one fell swoop, the Lakers could get more shooting, more wing defense, more size next to AD, and all while still keeping one of their future firsts for even more potential upgrades.

Timberwolves

To be honest, the Wolves don't have to be in this deal. The Lakers could give up extra to land Covington instead of Prince, the Bulls could deal him elsewhere, or they could just keep him to teach Patrick Williams a thing or two. But I like the Wolves the most as a team that could trade for Covington. His two best offensive [half]years came with Minnesota, and he's been an amazing defender everywhere. The Wolves are clearly worse than they thought they'd be when they moved heaven and Earth for Gobert, and they want to win now. Upgrading from Prince to Covington would give them another swiss army knife defensively alongside Jaden McDaniels that also is a reliable shooter offensively. The cost is very reasonable, as they're giving up a late first rounder -- who is pretty raw and has only played 8 minutes all year -- for two seconds. Add in Covington's familiarity with KAT and Minnesota, and it certainly seems like a solid deal. Last time the Wolves had Covington, they traded him away for a return that essentially netted them Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jaden McDaniels, Leandro Bolmaro... and Taurean Prince. Trading one of those players and a late first to get him back is dang good business.