The NBA trade deadline is still a few weeks away, but the trade winds are starting to swirl around the league. One team who has been a part of various trade rumors is the Chicago Bulls.
This season has not been good to the Bulls as they are having issues with the players and in the front office. Needless to say, it is a volatile situation in the Windy City.
However, if they do make a deal at the deadline, they could have their eyes on a young big man from the Philadelphia 76ers. According to Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago.com, the Bulls have inquired about the services of Sixers big man Jahlil Okafor. Goodwill also mentioned that right now, the interest regarding a possible trade is on Chicago’s side, rather than the Sixers.
It is not surprising to see Okafor’s name pop up in trade rumors as everybody in the NBA knows that the Sixers have a logjam in the frontcourt. Out of the three big men, Okafor is currently the odd man out as Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid have shown that they can play well on a consistent basis together.
Okafor, on the other hand, has struggled to play with Embiid, and it has left him coming off the bench and being DNP’d for a majority of the time. The only time Okafor gets a lot of minutes is when Embiid doesn’t play.
This season, Okafor is averaging 11.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks in 23.1 minutes per game.
If the Sixers were to make a deal with Chicago regarding Okafor, it would be interesting to see what they could want in return. Right now, Chicago does not have a lot of young players that would be an automatic upgrade or could help the Sixers’ young core right away.
With that being said, Goodwill states in his report that if the Sixers are not in love with any of the Chicago’s young players and that the Bulls could bring in a third team to join the fray as they do not want to give up any future first-round picks.
As the days progress, it will be interesting to see if this trade rumor has any legs or if any other team is interested in Okafor. He is still a quality, young big man that can get you 20 points and 10 rebounds on any given night.
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