While the Chicago Bulls most certainly lost the Zach LaVine trade, relinquishing the former All-Star for their own 2025 pick back, and the contracts of Kevin Huerter, Zach Collins, and Tre Jones, they have been expiring a silver lining lately with one of those pieces.
Collins, the seven-foot center, has been making his presence felt recently, which could Chicago an unexpected advantage going into the offseason.
Finding his game
Collins, who rarely played for the San Antonio Spurs this season, is now receiving 26 minutes of playing time from the Bulls, and he's been making the most of them.
During his Bulls tenure, Collins is netting 13.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and canning over 55% of his shot attempts.
Over his last five games, it's been even better, with Collins notching 18.2 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, all while hitting over 59% of his shots due to starting center Nikola Vučević being out of action.
Collins' resurgence is not just needed for him, but for the Bulls who will enter this offseason with very few positive assets in their fold.
Could Collins be a trade candidate?
Should the Bulls decide to test the trade waters of Collins, the timing would be solid. Several teams would likely be interested in a productive center, who is just 27 years old.
Chicago will have to be quick about it, however, given that Collins will enter the last year of his deal next season, in which he'll earn just over $18 million.
The Bulls have severely struggled with the notion of trading players at the right time, with Alex Caruso and down the road Coby White, being prime examples.
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They flat-out can't wait until next season's trade deadline to make such a decision, as teams would instead prefer to get Collins in earlier, as to have him go through a full training camp.
Of course, the Bulls might decide to keep him as an alternative to Vučević, and instead trade the former All-Star. That would bring them into a difficult situation, unless they extend him first, as Collins could then leave in unrestricted free agency in 2026, should he wish to do that.
For a team in desperate need of entering a fully-fledged rebuild, moving off Collins would be the smart play, especially if they can squeeze any type of draft capital out of an interested party.
Unless noted otherwise, all stats viaNBA.com,PBPStats,Cleaning the Glass orBasketball-Reference. All salary information viaSpotrac. All odds courtesy ofFanDuel Sportsbook.