Chicago Bulls: What could the Bulls get in a trade of Thaddeus Young?

Following a disappointing 2019-20 season, forward Thaddeus Young seems like the likeliest of the Chicago Bulls player to get traded.

While plenty of speculation has emerged regarding Chicago Bulls’ star Zach LaVine’s trade availability over the last couple days, he isn’t the only player teams have their eye on. As NBC Sports Chicago’s K.C. Johnson noted in his July 24 column, forward Thaddeus Young seems like the more attainable target for inquiring general managers:

"In fact, according to executives from two other teams, Thad Young, not LaVine, is the player considered most readily available. That’s largely based on Young’s displeasure with his role and usage last season, his team-friendly deal that carries only a partial guarantee in 2021-22 and his dependability and professionalism."

Young, a 13-year pro who signed a three-year, $41 million pact with Chicago just last year, did not enjoy his first season in the red and black — he privately criticized his diminished role on the team and intimated that the previous regime misled him during contract negotiations — so it makes some sense that he and the club would want to part ways.

But could the Bulls expect to get back for him if they elected to trade him? Given his production this year — metrics like Box Plus/Minus, Real Plus/Minus, Player Impact Plus/Minus, and RAPTOR all rated him at replacement level at best — one would assume it wouldn’t be much. Even in a best-case scenario, teams aren’t exactly itching to pay a premium price to add a 32-year-old tweener who can’t space the floor particularly well to their roster.

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Even if you make the reasonable argument that Young’s underwhelming 2019-20 was an aberration more reflective of a bad team led by a numbskull coach, a bad season is a bad season and potential suitors will still use that to trade for him without giving up too much. After all, Young is on the wrong side of 30, so GMs could portray that as a sign of things to come rather than an anomalous blip.

If a team offered anything more than an early second-round pick and/or a handful of rotation pieces for Young, I’d be shocked, even with the team-friendly parameters of the contract. But if the Bulls truly see the relationship as untenable, then perhaps it’s a price they’re willing to accept.

Ideally, the team should try to make things work first. It’s worth mentioning that Young’s season wasn’t a complete wash; yes, he was a black hole on offense, but PIPM, RPM, BPM, and RAPTOR all view him as, at least, a serviceable defender, and the offensive pratfalls could be corrected if the team lets him shoot near the rim more (you know, that thing he’s done for his entire career) instead of trying to turn him into Danilo Gallinari. A turnaround in 2020-21 — assuming we see a 2020-21 season — could quiet some of this chatter.

Of course, given executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas’ plan to work with the roster he has instead of making immediate changes, there’s probably as much to any Young trade discussion as there is to LaVine’s. And that should make the Bulls thankful, as their own incompetence would’ve made the endeavor less than worthwhile.