With Thursday’s draft approaching, many teams have been active on the trade market. The biggest trade thus far occurred this afternoon, as the Chicago Bulls traded point guard Derrick Rose, Justin Holliday, and a second round pick in next season’s draft to the New York Knicks for Robin Lopez, Jerian Grant, and Jose Calderon.
The prospect of the Bulls trading Rose has been growing for awhile, as the emergence of Jimmy Butler and the lack of chemistry between the two has become more pronounced.
The 27-year old Rose, taken first overall by the Bulls in the 2008 NBA Draft out of Memphis, has been beset by injuries in recent seasons. In 2015-16, Rose played 66 games, his most in a year since 2010-11. He played in a total of 49 games from the 2011-12 season to the 2013-14 season while dealing with a litany of injuries, including both a torn ACL and a torn meniscus. He’ll team up to form a new core in New York with Kristaps Porzingis and (presumably) Carmelo Anthony.
Meanwhile, the Knicks were able to find a suitor for Calderon, which they were unable to find up to this point. The 34-year old averaged just 7.6 points per game in 2015-16, the lowest mark in his career since his rookie year of 2005-06. The 28-year old Lopez had a splendid year for the Knicks this year, averaging 10.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game while playing in all 82 games. Grant is the wild card in the trade, coming of a rookie season in which he averaged 5.6 points in just 16.6 minutes per game. However, he started the last six games of the season for the Knicks, and scored in double figures in five of those six games.
With the 2011 MVP heading to the Big Apple, it appears that the Bulls are preparing to move forward with Butler as the nucleus of their team.