Would the Chicago Bulls agree to the trade?
The Chicago Bulls have previously shopped LaVine in the past in hopes of getting off of his awful contract. He is owed $138 million over the next three seasons, or $46 million a season, which is among the largest contracts in the league.
To be clear, he is still a good player and can still play a key role on a good team. That being said, with him being 28 years old, he doesn't fit the Bulls' apparent timeline with the team trending younger.
The Bulls have wisely chosen the right time to begin to rebuild. They owe a top-10 protected first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs in 2025, with it also being top-10 protected in 2026 and 2027, respectively. Tanking now would save them from having to give up that picture, but it may be hard to be that bad for three straight years.
That is especially true if they somehow luck out and land the projected 2025 number-one overall pick, Cooper Flagg. Flagg is seen as a generational prospect who can change the fortunes of an NBA team and the Bulls have been in need of young star power since Derrick Rose in 2011.
If they were to land Flagg, then that would dramatically change their rebuild, but they probably wouldn't be in that position if they held on to LaVine. That makes the need to move on from him all the more important and the sooner they do it, the better. They can't afford to pick up unnecessary wins if they want to finish as one of the three worst teams in the league and maximize their lottery odds for the draft.
Trading him while they still can makes sense, especially after they tried to move him only for him to have season-ending surgery last season. This proposed deal would have them acquire Porter Jr. and Nnaji for LaVine. While Porter Jr. is one of the better shooters at small forward, his production doesn't match his salary, which will pay him at least $35 million over each of the next three seasons.
Meanwhile, Nnaji is essentially dead salary, with him making around $8 million over each of the next four seasons despite not being a rotation player. In his defense, not cracking the Nuggets' rotation is a lot different than not cracking the Bulls' rotation. The Nuggets have championship aspirations while the Bulls are rebuilding so he stands to have a better chance of playing in Chicago.
Trading one all-star on a terrible contract for a good player and an end-of-bench player doesn't seem like it might make sense for them. On the other hand, breaking up LaVine's contract into two smaller deals does make sense. Porter Jr. is also a couple of years younger and may have more upside in a bigger role. The Nuggets may have to include a pick swap to even the deal up more but it's not a terrible trade for the Bulls given the direction of their franchise.