WILL HE STAY OR WILL HE GO?
DeMar won’t engage in speculation, even as deadline nears
Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan has no idea what will happen at the NBA trade deadline Thursday.
Then again, he admitted he has no idea what he’s doing Monday, let alone what the Bulls’ front office is planning to do with the roster.
DeRozan reiterated his mindset after the Bulls’ home loss Saturday to the Kings.
‘‘I’m a terrible planner,’’ DeRozan said. ‘‘That’s probably, like, my big pet peeve. Some people like jotting down in their journal what they gotta do for the week. That would drive me nuts. If I get caught up in having future thoughts on things, I’m going to drive myself crazy. I try to take it day by day and be prepared for whatever happens. I don’t get caught up in the he-say, she-say stuff.’’
It was one thing when DeRozan first said that last week. After all, the leaguewide feeling at the time was that the Bulls only were looking to trade guard Zach LaVine and his max contract and hoping to keep the rest of the core intact for a push to the play-in tournament.
But that has changed. Oh, how it has changed.
The Bulls announced Saturday that LaVine had decided to have surgery on his right foot, sidelining him for four to six months. That means he won’t be traded by Thursday and probably not during the offseason, given the uncertainty around the injury.
DeRozan expressed his concern for LaVine, acknowledged that the Bulls have played a lot of good basketball without him this season and stressed how important it is for the younger players to keep progressing as they have throughout the first 50 regular-season games.
‘‘The capability every one of these guys has when they are healthy can make it a collective, so you don’t have to lean on one person every single night,’’ DeRozan said. ‘‘We are getting to that more, and that’s been the emphasis this year — to share the ball, move the ball, get everybody involved so we don’t have to depend on one person to win the game.’’
But will the Bulls be depending on DeRozan after Thursday? The injury to LaVine might force executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas to pivot from Plan A to Plan B — one that might involve trading DeRozan and his expiring contract.
How did it get to this point? It’s actually quite simple, considering that injured guard Lonzo Ball (left knee) and LaVine are guaranteed to make a combined $65 million next season. And that’s despite the fact they will have missed a combined 288 games since Jan. 14, 2022, by the end of this season.
LaVine’s max contract is the biggest roadblock to flexibility, and that’s why the Bulls were finding it hard to trade him even when he was healthy.
If Karnisovas decides to stay the course and not make a move, that might lead to some difficult decisions this summer, such as letting DeRozan walk for nothing or losing out on restricted free agent Patrick Williams. Letting Williams go isn’t in the Bulls’ plans, especially with the jump White has taken from his fourth season to his fifth, so that means parting with DeRozan would be the logical choice.
And while he knows everything is on the table, DeRozan said he doesn’t think this team is done coming together and has a push left in it that might lead to special things.
‘‘There’s a lot on teams battling for something,’’ DeRozan said. ‘‘We’re [also] battling for something.’’