Chicago Bulls: 5 takeaways from Jimmy Butler trade

After years of rumors and speculation, the Chicago Bulls dealt Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Here are the main takeaways from this trade.

For the third time in four years, the Chicago Bulls made a splash leading up to draft night. In 2014, they exchanged two first round picks for Doug McDermott. Last year, they sent former MVP, Derrick Rose, to the New York Knicks (more on that in a bit).

This time around, the front office raised some eyebrows when they dealt Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the seventh overall pick — Lauri Markkanen.

The irony here is vice president of basketball operations John Paxson stated a few weeks ago that the Bulls were not shopping Butler. I guess what he really meant was they weren’t shopping him at the time because the right deal had not come along at that point.

Here is what Butler had to say about the recent turn of events..

"“It’s crazy because it reminds you of what a business this is,” Butler told the Chicago Sun-Times. “You can’t get mad at anybody. I’m not mad — I’m not. I just don’t like how some things were handled, but it’s OK.”"

Based on those comments, Butler — as well as the fan base — was surprised by the move. Regardless of that fact, the bottom line is the three-time All-Star is no longer a Bull.

That being said, here are the main takeaways from this trade.