I'll start this off by saying this is just the Knicks-Bulls portion of the trade season. The Bulls would also be sending out Vucevic and possibly LaVine in this scenario as well in order to aim for a top 10 draft spot so they can keep their first round pick in a truly stacked 2025 draft class. Supposedly Vucevic is headed to the Warriors or Lakers and LaVine has done a great job of raising his trade value with a great season so far. But in some ways, this Bulls team is over-achieving. They're currently in Play-In territory and unfortunately for them, the teams below them are truly bad, meaning this team has to get worse. This Bulls team has some solid to great players who raise the floor of this team. Basically, with players like Coby White, LaVine, Vucevic, Ayo Donsunmu and even Lonzo Ball returning and looking like himself, this Bulls team is pretty decent! But it's still not one that's primed to win a lot and as this draft class is very strong, it's better to trade some of these productive players for future assets and position for a tank. Below is the team by team rationale. This trade sees them lose Craig and Horton-Tucker, but both are on 1 year deals and may not return to the team anyways. Jalen Smith is the big loss which is why they're receiving 3 second round picks, Jericho Sims whos reportedly worth around 1 second round pick and Pacome Dadiet, a recent late FRP who's flashed some upside but is a long term project that the Knicks can't really afford right now. Mitch's value is probably a wash given his current injury and injury history but he's on a reasonable contract and is an All-Defense candidate when healthy. He also has a very tradeable salary if they choose to go that route after the draft if they see an opportunity.

For the Knicks, this is all about getting a reliable backup center and fixing the depth issue. Currently, the Knicks basically have 8 players who Thibs can trust in the rotation. A lot has been made of Thibs over-playing the starters but he really doesn't have a choice. Losing Hartenstein (and Mitch to injury) combined with the KAT trade has decimated their bench, who tend to get destroyed when the starters sit. Because of that, Thibs has around 2-3 starters on the floor at all times, making rest very difficult. This trade gives them a backup center who's young and signed long term in Jalen Smith. He's been incredibly efficient in his minutes (he only gets about 15 per game but look at the games where he's played more, he can really ball out) and is an energetic rebound machine who can also hit an outside shot too. They also get 2 wings in Horton Tucker and Craig who can play solid defense. In Horton-Tuckers case, he's a good lockdown defender with a big wingspan and although he'd probably have to cut back some of his shots (he's not an amazing shooter but doesn't always play like that), he's still worth it. The depth chart would look something like this:

PG: Brunson, Payne, Kolek SG: Hart, Deuce, Shamet SF: Bridges, Craig, Ryan PF: OG, Achiuwa C: KAT, Smith, Hukporti

That gives them a bench that can actually do some damage AND one that can play D. They go from having 8 players that Thibs can count on, to 11 or even 12 if you count Shamet. And they'd still have one open roster spot to sign someone like TJ Warren/Chuma Okeke/Nassir Little. They also gain a good amount of cap space by dropping 9.6 million which gives them room to potentially sign some of these players to longer term deals which could help in future trades (or keep the bench intact) and they could still navigate the buyout market. Before this trade, they couldn't sign a buyout candidate who earned more than the midlevel exception but I think this would allow them more wiggle room on that (cap experts, feel free to help me out). This would allow Thibs to be able to manage the starters minutes much more and position them for a deep playoff run. I would honestly even send more second rounders to the Bulls (Smith's value is that high) but I think this deal works. I'd also love to get Ayo Donsunmu instead of Craig and Horton-Tucker but I think that's too lopsided of a trade as I doubt the Bulls want to lose a young talent like him.

Thoughts?