The Chicago Bulls are frustrated. The team has a star point guard who cannot seem to stay healthy which is halting the team's progress throughout the season, making deep playoff runs very difficult. After Derrick Rose suffered his third straight season-ending injury, not including the year he took off, the Bulls stuck by his side. However, as the Bulls push for playoff positioning, is the team secretly discussing moving the point guard in the future?
According to Chicago Sun-Times writer Joe Cowley via Bleacher Report, the Bulls would love to trade Rose after another injury, but there is currently no market for him. In a video discussing Rose's situation with the team, he referenced the point guard's contract which totals over $40 million in his final two seasons. He is owed $20 million next year while commanding $21.3 million in 2016. There is not a team around that would trade for a player with that much money assigned to him who has missed 128 games thanks to three separate knee surgeries.
The idea of trading Rose likely has the fan base divided. When healthy, no one plays the point guard position better than Rose. The issue is that he has not been healthy in a long time which is holding Chicago back. At 26-years-old, Rose could have a lot of basketball left in him, but no one can truly know for sure given his recent history.
If Chicago is in fact trying to trade Rose, they will have an extremely hard time doing so. Yes, there are his contract issues, but this coming offseason players like Rajon Rondo, Goran Dragic and Reggie Jackson all hit the market. Those are players most teams are eyeing at the moment. If someone is going to make a big trade for a point guard, it would likely be Russell Westbrook who comes with just one more season of money on his deal.
If the Bulls are favoring more salary cap space, they could opt to trade Taj Gibson, a player that likely holds more value right now than Rose. Gibson has struggled some this season competing for minutes with Nikola Mirotic and Pau Gasol. Most teams would love the idea of getting a defensive big man like Gibson. They could also simply not re-sign Jimmy Butler. However, that would really set the offense back considering he is the team's top scoring option. Mirotic is slowly proving he can take on some of that weight, but not enough to consider not bringing back Butler.
Rose is close to returning to the team following another knee injury. ESPN Chicago reported that he is competing in contract practice and could be back in time for the postseason. If Rose is healthy and pushes the Bulls through a good run, the trade talk can simply be thrown out the window. However, if the point guard struggles, there is no telling what Chicago will do.
