Anonymous executive believes Zach LaVine eyeing LA Lakers move amid increasing discontent: "Agents want him to be in Los Angeles, he is a UCLA guy"
Chicago Bulls star Zach LaVine has been on a rollercoaster of a ride with the franchise over the last six months. After a first-round exit from the playoffs last season saw the team snap a playoff drought, the hope was that the team would build on the momentum from last season. Specifically, a two-month stretch where the team climbed to the number one spot in the Eastern Conference.
Despite that, this season has been anything but successful for the Bulls. The franchise has posted an abysmal 13-18 record that currently sees them sitting in 11th place in the Eastern Conference.
In addition to Lonzo Ball remaining on the sideline, there have been reports of friction between stars Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan.
According to a report released earlier this week, the front office has hosted one-on-one meetings between LaVine and DeRozan. Although it's purely speculation and rumors at this point, the theory is that the story was leaked by LaVine and his agent.
The way an anonymous NBA exec sees things, the working theory is that LaVine wants to join the LA Lakers - a team who has been monitoring his availability.
“LaVine wants to go to the Lakers, that has been pretty clear for a while now. The agents want him to be in Los Angeles, he is a UCLA guy and they did some rattling about his contract last offseason to kind of lay the groundwork if things blew up. Which they seem to be doing."
The comments came from a report by Sean Deveney with Heavy.
Above, you can also see footage of Adrian Wojnarowski discussing the Lakers front office monitoring the availability of LaVine.
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What other NBA executives think of Zach LaVine's situation
Despite the anonymous executive being confident in Zach LaVine being bound for LA, another unnamed Eastern Conference Executive had a differing opinion. In the same report from Heavy, an Eastern Conference Exec believes that the Bulls likely won't trade LaVine, if anything they'll trade DeRozan.
Despite that, the exec wasn't entirely sold on the notion of the Bulls trading away either man during the season. By his predictions, they'll wait until the offseason before potentially shaking things up. He said:
“They’re not going to trade away Zach LaVine during the season. They will have an easier time with moving on from DeMar DeRozan if that is where they go but even that, it is something they would wait until the summer to do, rather than try to pull off a move at the deadline."
Going into the season, the message from front office maestro Arturas Karnisovas was continuity. Despite the Bulls retaining much of their roster from last season, they have notably been without Lonzo Ball. Although Will Purdue stated on a recent Bulls post-game show that Ball is the key to the team's success, his return is still quite a ways off.
According to Ball, he's just starting to do some work on the court. Based on the latest projections, he could wind up sitting out the entirety of this season.
With the team showing only flashes of brilliance this season, do you think a big trade for Zach LaVine is coming?
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