The NBA trade deadline has come and gone, and it was another puzzling one for the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls have been getting a lot of attention at the trade deadline for multiple seasons now as they have been in an interesting position between tank mode and playoff push. The Bulls are once again in that same position as they are in 10th place in the Eastern Conference. When Chicago traded Zach LaVine prior to the deadline, it looked like there were going to be more moves to follow. That didn’t happen, and now the Bulls are still stuck in their limbo phase.

When the deadline was nearing, it seemed like the Bulls had a couple of different strategy options: go all-in and trade away a lot of their top talent to embrace the build for the future, or keep everyone around to try to make a run in the playoffs. Based on how option two has gone in recent years, a lot of people thought that the Bulls would try to switch it up. When they traded Zach LaVine, it was starting to look like that might be the case.

The Bulls were involved in a three-team trade earlier this week with the San Antonio Spurs and the Sacramento Kings. LaVine went to the Kings, and the Bulls received Tre Jones, Zach Collins and Kevin Huerter. They also got their own 2025 first-round pick back from the Spurs. They got a few role players, but is that worth it for losing LaVine? A lot of Bulls fans don’t think so.

Bulls trade grade: C-

At the end of the day, this wasn’t a very good trade for the Bulls. They have now traded DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso and Zach LaVine and they haven’t gotten any first-round picks for any of them. The Bulls don’t seem to be showing any sign of improvement, but it doesn’t seem like they are willing to do anything about it.

If Chicago had gone all in and made some other moves before the deadline, it probably would’ve made the Zach LaVine trade look better. Unfortunately, they didn’t do that, and it’s hard to imagine benefiting them that much.