Jrue Holiday Names Chicago Bulls A Desired Destination Amid Trade Talks

According to the Miami Herald, Jrue Holiday has made a short list of teams his “teams of interest” after the shocking Damian Lillard deal sent him to Portland. The Trail Blazers have already made it known that Holiday will be dealt elsewhere as his age and positional value do not contribute to the rebuild they are embarking on with the departure of Lillard. Initially, the Miami Heat were thought to make a run at Holiday, seeing that they missed out on the seven-time All-NBA guard from Weber State University, and they have drawn mutual interest from Holiday as well. Even though the Bulls were listed as a preferred trade partner for the former Bucks’ guard, do they have the capital or cap space to get a deal done?

Holiday’s Short List Of Destinations

Without any sort of no-trade clause or other additives in his contract that would allow him to control his destination to a certain degree, Jrue Holiday will be at the mercy of the Portland Trail Blazers and the best deal they can find. It’s well known that headed into a rebuild with two premiere young guards, they are seeking draft capital, young talent, and untapped potential with high upside. Unfortunately for Chicago, they don’t have much of any of the three, and the majority of their young talent is at the guard position. Assuming Portland would not entertain Coby White, Dalen Terry, or Ayo Dosunmu, it would take the likes of Patrick Williams or a heavier hitter such as Zach LaVine to get involved in a three-team deal.

If Portland did not want to entertain Miami’s assets in a deal for Lillard, it’s far-fetched to believe they’d want any of those same assets for Holiday. The Lakers and Clippers each have considerably more young talent and assets than Chicago, and Boston and Philly have aggressive general managers that may pounce on the opportunity to add a former NBA champion point guard. It was reported yesterday that Philadelphia has mutual interest in acquiring Holiday in a return to the team that drafted him in 2009.

The New-Look Chicago Bulls

The 33-year-old five-time All-Defensive team point guard would add a tremendous amount to the 2023 Chicago Bulls. His skillset is very similar to Lonzo Ball, who led this team to the top spot in the Eastern Conference in his first 35 games with the club before going down to injury. Since he was sidelined in January of 2022, Chicago has not found a suitable answer at point guard and it has plagued their offense and transition pace ever since. The trickle down effect to LaVine and DeRozan’s efficiency dropping, Nikola Vucevic getting less touches in the middle, and less distributing to catch and shoot threats has led the Bulls to last year’s rankings of 24th in offensive rating, 23rd in assist percentage, and 18th in pace.

The biggest hurdle to acquiring Holiday would be his salary. At a greater than $36 million cap hit this upcoming season, Chicago would need to part ways with an equal amount on the books. This would mean LaVine, DeRozan, or some combination of Ball and several other role players would be departing to clear space for the former UCLA Bruin point guard. Coby White cannot be dealt for several months due to his recent contract extension, the same stands true for Ayo Dosunmu.

Can the Bulls front office pull off the improbable and fix the point guard issue that has handcuffed the team for years? Any move to acquire Holiday would certainly bolster the Bulls standing in the gauntlet of an Eastern Conference in 2023-24. Is Holiday for LaVine, with a third team in the mix, worth the risk?