Trade rumor rankings: Zach LaVine, Donovan Mitchell and more

Michael Scotto: Some potential targets to keep an eye on for Philadelphia include Zach LaVine, who can spread the floor and OG Anunoby, who is loved by coach Nick Nurse, which I think is important. He offers two-way versatility on both sides of the ball, and the 76ers will have the necessary cap space to re-sign him this summer.

Anunoby is currently extension-eligible but is limited to four years, $116.9 million, which would give him an annual salary of $29.2 million. He could earn more than that on the open market thanks to his theoretical fit on just about any team. The Sixers could sign him outright, but there’s a strong chance that he will need to be acquired via trade since there should be plenty of the teams projected to be over the cap that will pursue him.

Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan said his players were having a team meeting in the wake of an opening-night loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder — a 20-point beatdown, it should be said. But All-Star guard Zach LaVine says it wasn’t some team meeting, not in the sense of how he defines it. “A team meeting is when guys collectively call themselves in and talk about things,” LaVine told Yahoo Sports recently. “We didn’t have a team meeting, I think it’s a basketball conversation.”

The Bulls could be at an inflection point of sorts, as the gamble the front-office regime made in bringing in DeRozan and Vučević hasn’t paid off. DeRozan has been stellar in his time in Chicago, but he and the Bulls couldn’t come to terms on an extension. Vučević was complaining about touches in the season opener and had a visible exchange with Donovan during the game.

You’ve never been tempted to try to force your way to a preferred situation? DeMar DeRozan: Nah. My whole life, I’ve always been this way: Control what you can control. This may sound cliché, but I’m big on being professional even in the toughest of times. It’s always easy to run away or find an excuse or blame somebody else or whatever. But sticking through something always teaches you a lesson. Some people demand trades or demand certain things and they still don’t get what they want. For me, I just wake up and try to be the best I can be that day and let it translate over.

DeRozan’s $28.6 million salary is simple for the Sixers to match on its own with a combination of the expiring contract they got from the Clippers. In fact, they have enough expirings to acquire both DeRozan and LaVine while being able to duck the luxury tax. However, it’s unclear if all the tradeable pieces from the Sixers draft chest will be enough value to acquire both players.

Though Donovan Mitchell didn’t land with the Knicks last offseason, Joe Ingles said he believed the New York native would play for his hometown team at some point in his career. “This is like non-bias, no outside info, I think he’ll play for New York one day, whether that’s sooner or later,” Ingles said. “I think it would be great for New York and I think it would be great for him. Whether or not that actually happens we’ll wait and see.”

No one expects LaVine to be a lockdown defender. He’s made tremendous improvements at that end and has long been an underrated man defender. Consistency and off-ball focus have been his bigger issues. LaVine has frequently talked about becoming the best player he can be, a version universally viewed as a well-rounded superstar rather than a splendid scorer. To get there, he must avoid finishes like Friday. Multiple defensive mistakes in a late-game moment can’t happen. showing how tenuous and tense the situation appears to be for the Bulls right now. “I didn’t think they were lapses,” he said. “We’re all out there playing hard. You go for the steal. The ball gets tipped back out. A guy goes in the lane, gets a charge call that didn’t get called. And then it gets kicked back out to another person. I thought we were doing good rotations. “And then Bridges made a good move on the baseline. That’s basketball. I don’t think they’re defensive lapses. It’s basketball.”

They’re not imploding or fracturing, but it seems they’re approaching a critical point if things don’t improve. “I don’t think we’re at a crossroads, you never want to put something out there too early,” LaVine told Yahoo Sports. “But you don’t want to put yourself in a hole where you’re fighting back and behind the eight ball. One game isn’t gonna kill your season, but you don’t want that to snowball. Let’s try to nip this in the bud before it gets bad.”

According to a source close to the situation, the Bulls have no intention of trading LaVine anytime soon, and even if that changes — a big if — it’s unlikely that the 76ers fit the profile of what the Bulls would be looking for in return. But this is the space the Bulls and coach Billy Donovan will have to work in this season, courtesy of the front office’s decision to bring the core of the roster back, despite two-plus years of underachieving.