Atop the Bulls’ priority list Saturday was taking advantage of a 76ers team playing without injured center Joel Embiid (sprained right ankle).
They checked that box, thanks to 24 points by DeMar DeRozan and another rebounding clinic put on by Andre Drummond, who grabbed 23 boards in their 105-92 victory.
Still lingering over the Bulls, however, is the immediate future of injured guard Zach LaVine and how long he will remain with them.
That’s a question that isn’t going away anytime soon, thanks to the Raptors-Knicks deal Saturday.
Hours before the Bulls’ victory, it was announced that the Knicks had traded forward RJ Barrett, guard Immanuel Quickley and a second-round pick in the 2024 draft to the Raptors for forwards OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa and guard Malachi Flynn.
No biggie? Very big, in fact.
Not only did the deal involve two teams the Bulls likely will be battling with for playoff position, but it also sent a ripple through the trade market and how LaVine might fit into it.
LaVine and his representatives made it clear in November that he would welcome a trade. Sources, however, told the Sun-Times that while the Bulls’ front office was looking to move him, it was finding no takers.
It has been reported that the Knicks kicked the tires on LaVine at the trade deadline last season and again this summer, but talks never reached anything serious. The Raptors also were rumored to be sniffing around a deal for LaVine, but sources called that outside noise.
Whatever it was, both teams became serious Saturday — and not with the Bulls or LaVine.
So where is the market for LaVine as the trade deadline Feb. 8 draws closer? Nowhere. It remains very quiet, and coach Billy Donovan has all but confirmed that.
Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley usually let Donovan into the loop when talks start heating up, and there has been no loop to be let into so far.
‘‘I don’t think that Arturas and Marc bog me down at all with their phone calls during the course of the day,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘I’ve always told you guys that when something is happening that’s significant in terms of the possibility something happened, there’s always discussions.
‘‘I always view it that the guys that are here are going to remain here. I know that’s an unrealistic viewpoint to have, but I think if I’m looking at, ‘Well, this player can be gone, that player can be gone,’ I don’t know what’s going to happen to the trade deadline. They’ve always been great about including me in those conversations, but I always view that this is our team until something changes.’’
Considering LaVine has missed 15 games with an injured right foot and the Bulls (15-19) have gone 10-5 without him, Donovan is doing his job on that front.
But that doesn’t exactly increase LaVine’s trade stock, either. The Bulls lose their max-contract player and are better because of it? That doesn’t scream ‘‘hot commodity.’’
Donovan was asked whether he flat-out has asked Karnisovas to trade LaVine because of how well the Bulls have played without him, but that’s not how he operates.
‘‘I have not had that conversation at all with them about that,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘I think the conversations with Zach’s representation and Zach and Arturas, that’s pretty much maintained there. It’s not like I want to be in the know about all that stuff.’’
