Shams Is Already Laying The Breadcrumbs That The Bulls Are Shutting Down Zach LaVine Until The Lakers Will Be Able To Trade For Him

Icon Sportswire. Getty Images.

Yesterday we learned that the Bulls were shutting Zach LaVine down for an additional 3-4 weeks as he recovers from his right foot inflammation. I'm not a doctor so I have no idea if that's how long something like that truly takes to recover, but with all the trade rumors swirling involving LaVine, you have to admit it is a little suspicious. To me, this follows the NBA star trade demand playbook almost perfectly.

First we get leaks that the team is considering trading a player. Then we get the leak of where that player wants to be traded to. Then we get the news that he's going to be "out" with an injury aka we're shutting him down while we finalize the trade stuff and he doesn't get seriously injured. It's a play we've seen time and time before without fail.

That's not all though, we can't ignore what known Klutch guy Shams had to say about this timeline

Remember, there are 2 important dates to remember this trade season. The first is December 15th, which is when free agents who signed a contract can be traded. For the Lakers, that's a group of

Jaxson Hayes

Taurean Prince

Cam Reddish

Gabe Vincent

Christian Wood

The next date is January 15th which is important, because that's the date that players who signed an extension can be traded. That's where someone like Rui Hachimiura and DLo come in. If you think it's just a random coincidence that Shams mentioned the Lakers in that clip, I'm afraid you aren't paying attention. Two years ago Shams changed his representation to the United Talent Agency, a company that just so happened to partner with Rich Paul's Klutch Sports. Combine that knowledge with this

Getty Images.

and then how Shams was talking in that video, and we're just to assume there's no inside info there? Grow up.

So what does this tell us? 

The easy answer is that the Lakers and Bulls are hot and heavy talking about a LaVine trade. As I blogged a few weeks ago, the Lakers need to get close to LaVine's $40M salary in order to make that work. Shutting down LaVine until the January 15th date allows the Lakers to include Rui's $15.7M and Russell's $17M. For example, a package of DLo/Rui/Cam Reddish for LaVine works money-wise as long as it comes after January 15th, then just add whatever picks you need to in order to pull off the deal.

Is it smart for the Lakers to do something like that? I don't give a shit. I'm not in the business of hoping the Lakers make smart trades to help improve their team. On the Bulls side at least you get an expiring in DLo, a young player who is signed for a few more years in Rui and then some draft capital for your rebuild. It's not the worst return for a player who doesn't really have a trade market at the moment.

Advertisement

All I'm saying is there's way too much smoke right now to completely ignore the very real possibility that the Lakers end up with Zach LaVine. And even if you think that's not going to happen, the fact that he's shut down until that Jan 15th date all but confirms we're about a month away from the Bulls pulling the trigger on something. You would think it has to be a trade involving a player who has that January 15th restriction date, and like Shams said the Lakers certainly have the contracts to make it work.