Bill Simmons’ Obi Toppin-Zach LaVine trade would surprisingly benefit Knicks
It’s that time of year in the NBA when the trade rumors are starting to heat back up. In an effort to try to “save” the struggling Chicago Bulls, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons proposed three trades involving Zach LaVine and one of them involved Obi Toppin and the New York Knicks.
New York’s front office has accumulated a chest of first-round picks to bring a star to the Knicks. After ultimately deciding to not go all-in on Donovan Mitchell over the summer, Leon Rose is stuck waiting for another player of Mitchell’s caliber to become available.
Bill Simmons believes that the struggling Bulls should tear things down and enter a rebuilding phase without LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic. Given that the Knicks remain mediocre without a star on their roster, Simmons chose NYC as a potential landing spot for LaVine in the case that Chicago does decide to trade him.
Bill Simmons’ proposed Obi Toppin-Zach LaVine trade would never happen between Knicks-Bulls
Let’s start this off by asking the most obvious question: Why would the Bulls give up Zach LaVine, who signed a five-year max contract over the summer, for Obi Toppin, Derrick Rose, Evan Fournier, and only one first-round pick? If Chicago were to enter a rebuild, Toppin would be a good player to have, but other than that, this deal would be a ridiculously dumb move for the Bulls to make.
The Knicks do need to trade Rose and Fournier ahead of the February deadline, but it’s going to be tough to sell Fournier. His shooting woes have pushed him out of New York’s rotation and he isn’t worth the contract that he signed ahead of the 2021-22 season. The Jazz reportedly weren’t interested in him over the summer, and the Bulls shouldn’t be interested either.
Meanwhile, Toppin hasn’t gotten a fair shake with the Knicks since being drafted No. 8 overall in 2020. He’s one of the most electric and athletic young players in the league but has spent far too much time sitting on the bench and being misused by Tom Thibodeau.
Saying that New York should be okay with trading Toppin in the above scenario doesn’t mean that it’d be in the best interest of the team to trade the forward. But if the two valuable things that the Knicks would have to give up to get a 27-year-old All-Star were Toppin and a first-round pick, New York shouldn’t hesitate to say yes. However, Chicago would be under investigation by the NBA for negligence if the front office decided to proceed with this deal.
Luckily, Bill Simmons isn’t a GM because the Bulls would be in purgatory if they moved forward with one of his trade proposals. And Simmons — a Celtics fan — shouldn’t be okay with the Knicks getting away with robbery.
