NBA team hopes to trade two former Bruins stars

Two former UCLA Bruins guards, who have been committed to $64.4 million in salaries by the Chicago Bulls, combined for 25 healthy games last season — and it was all from just one of them.

Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes reveals straight from the “no, duh” archives that the Bulls are looking to sign former Bruins point guard Lonzo Ball (2016-2017) and former UCLA shooting guard Zach LaVine (2013-2014).

“Chicago hasn’t talked to (unrestricted free agent swingman) DeMar DeRozan because they want to get rid of Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball, so that’s their focus,” Haynes revealed. “They’re willing to talk to DeMar if they can get rid of those contracts. But time is on DeMar’s side. He doesn’t have to wait any longer. That tells me the DeMar DeRozan era in Chicago is officially over.”

Ball hasn’t been healthy since January 2022. After signing a four-year, $80 million contract with Chicago in the summer of 2021, he’s appeared in a whopping 35 games for the Bulls. The team could have let him go years ago and improved its roster when it was actually trying to win or at least make the playoffs (which it has done in just one of the three seasons since it paid him), but trading him now would honestly cost Chicago draft picks. This Bulls team is going to the lottery. It needs to build future equity, not lose it.

LaVine has done a lot more than Ball with the Bulls, making the All-Star team twice and developing into a high-level offensive threat. He’s undergone a couple of surgeries of his own and is owed a lot of money ($139 million) over the next three years, which has made rival teams hesitant to acquire him via trade.

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