New York Knicks: Revisiting 3 previous trade rumors

Knicks trade for Zach LaVine: 5% Chance

Easily the most valuable of all the rumored trade targets is Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine. LaVine’s numbers are those of a superstar scorer. On the season, LaVine is averaging 28.5 points per game on a ridiculously efficient 52% from the field and just under 44% from 3. He’s one of the best scoring guards in the league.

LaVine is still just 25 years old, and it’s hard to see the Bulls actually trading him away. There have been concerns about how well all of the Bulls players fit together — The team is young, but they still haven’t looked like they’ve made any significant progress in the past few seasons.

Of all of the Bulls’ young players, LaVine has essentially been the crown jewel and is their best player by a wide margin. That means the return for LaVine would be a king’s ransom. While the Knicks do have the assets to pull off a big trade, I’m not sure it makes a ton of sense for them.

The packages for LaVine would certainly include multiple first-round picks as well as a core young player – Most likely RJ Barrett or Immanuel Quickley. If the team was able to acquire LaVine on a picks-centered package, one where the top player they give up is someone like Obi Toppin, then maybe there’s an argument. LaVine would immediately be the best guard the Knicks have had in a long, long time.

Zach LaVine would certainly solve a lot of the Knicks’ scoring problems, but I’m not sure this trade is going to happen.  The Bulls’ interest in trading seems to be very minimal. The asking price for LaVine will be very high, and it doesn’t seem likely that the Bulls would even want to trade him at this point.