{"id":428627,"date":"2026-01-21T22:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T22:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/428627\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T22:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T22:25:08","slug":"nba-insider-proposes-lakers-bulls-trade-scenario-but-explains-why-it-probably-will-not-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/428627\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Insider Proposes Lakers-Bulls Trade Scenario, But Explains Why It Probably Will Not Happen"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trade deadline is coming fast. That\u2019s why everything around the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> feels like one long internal argument right now.<\/p>\n

Keep the books clean for future cap space, or take a swing to fix the obvious holes before April with a defensive wing that can help win games<\/a>. And if we\u2019re being real, this front office keeps acting like the summer matters almost as much as the postseason.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s exactly why The Athletic\u2019s Dan Woike<\/a> floated a Bulls<\/a> mock trade the Lakers should probably avoid. It looks tidy. It sounds like \u201ctwo-way help.\u201d But it drags the Lakers straight into the cap-space nightmare they\u2019ve been trying to dodge.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Trade<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Patrick Williams, Ayo Dosunmu<\/p>\n

Chicago Bulls Receive: Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent<\/p>\n

In the proposed framework, the Lakers would receive Patrick Williams<\/a> and Ayo Dosunmu<\/a>, while the Bulls would take back Rui Hachimura<\/a> and Gabe Vincent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the surface, you can see what the appeal is supposed to be: the Lakers add a younger wing and a guard who can actually pressure the ball and handle some creation, while the Bulls pivot off longer-term money and reshape their rotation with a bigger scoring wing.<\/p>\n

The salary math is the real headline here. Rui Hachimura is at $18.2 million and Gabe Vincent is at $11.5 million this season, while Patrick Williams makes $18.0 million and Ayo Dosunmu makes $7.52 million.<\/p>\n

Stat-wise, Hachimura is giving the Lakers 12.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, and he\u2019s hitting 42.6% from three. Vincent sits at 5.0 points and 1.3 assists, Williams is at 6.5 points and 39.7% from three, and Dosunmu has popped to 14.6 points and 3.6 assists while shooting 46.1% from three.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why The Lakers Avoid This<\/p>\n

The Athletic\u2019s logic is basically a warning label: this trade messes with the Lakers\u2019 future cap space plan, and that\u2019s the whole point. Williams looks like a 3-and-D wing, but he doesn\u2019t consistently play like one.<\/a><\/p>\n

He ends up guarding bigger players because he doesn\u2019t have the foot speed to stay attached to quick wings, and he doesn\u2019t shoot enough to scare defenses. Add the multi-year contract, and you\u2019ve got a commitment the Lakers would have to truly believe in. The Athletic basically says, yeah, that\u2019s hard to imagine.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s Dosunmu. The Athletic view is pretty simple: he helps, but he\u2019s headed to unrestricted free agency, and he\u2019s going to want a raise around the mid-level range. Plus, other teams could beat this \u201cno picks included\u201d framework by attaching draft capital for him. And there\u2019s the classic free agent trade dilemma: why pay real assets now when you can just try to sign the guy in the summer?<\/p>\n

Now my take, and I\u2019m going to be blunt.<\/p>\n

This is the kind of trade fans talk themselves into because it feels like you\u2019re getting two pieces while not giving up a first. That\u2019s the trap. The Lakers don\u2019t just trade Rui and Gabe here, they trade their flexibility, their optionality, and their ability to pivot when the real star market opens.<\/p>\n

Williams is the swing factor, and I don\u2019t buy it. A lot of people still talk about him like he\u2019s one system tweak away from being a playoff wing stopper. But if you\u2019re watching the way teams attack the Lakers, they don\u2019t need theoretical wings.<\/p>\n

They need real, reliable perimeter defense that can survive screens and keep ball handlers out of the paint. Williams guarding bigs because he can\u2019t slide is not some small detail, it\u2019s the entire problem. If he can\u2019t consistently stay in front, you\u2019re paying $18 million a year for a guy who becomes matchup-dependent in the postseason.<\/p>\n

And yeah, he hits threes at 39.7%. Cool. But volume matters. The Lakers already live in a world where defenses ignore certain guys, shrink the floor, and dare them to play in a phone booth. If Williams is \u201ctechnically\u201d a shooter who doesn\u2019t let it fly, nothing changes.<\/p>\n

Dosunmu is the part I actually like. He\u2019s at 14.6 points with 3.6 assists on 51.8% shooting and a wild 46.1% from three. That\u2019s not fake production. That\u2019s a real breakout.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s also why I think the price doesn\u2019t stay \u201cRui and Gabe.\u201d Once multiple teams smell a guard having a career year on an expiring $7.5 million deal, the bidding shifts.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the thing nobody wants to say out loud: if Dosunmu is your \u201cdeadline fixer,\u201d you\u2019re still not a title favorite. You\u2019re just less fragile. That\u2019s fine, but then the Lakers need to ask themselves what they\u2019re really buying.<\/p>\n

Because if you end up paying the Williams contract as the hidden fee to get Dosunmu, you better be sure you\u2019re not stuck holding the bag when you want to chase something bigger, like an Austin Reaves extension, or a Nikola Jokic free agency in 2027-28.<\/p>\n

So yeah, I get why The Athletic calls it unlikely. I\u2019m with them. The Lakers should avoid any deal where the \u201creal cost\u201d is years of salary commitment for a player you\u2019re hoping to unlock.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why The Bulls Would Do It<\/p>\n

This is where it gets interesting, because the Bulls\u2019 incentives are totally different.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re the Bulls, this trade screams flexibility. You\u2019re swapping Williams\u2019 longer-term money for two contracts that are easier to move. Rui is a productive wing who can score, hit threes, and give you size without needing plays run for him. He\u2019s at 12.1 points and shooting 42.9% from three, that plays on basically any roster.<\/p>\n

Vincent is the other half of the equation, and his value to the Bulls is less about \u201che\u2019s going to be our guy\u201d and more about \u201che\u2019s a tool.\u201d At $11.5 million, that\u2019s a clean mid-size contract you can reroute or let expire in the summer. And if you\u2019re pivoting toward asset plays, that kind of money slot matters.<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s talk about Williams from the Bulls\u2019 point of view. The Bulls already know what he is. They see him every day. If they\u2019ve decided the \u201cnext leap\u201d isn\u2019t coming, then the smartest move is to cash out before the league stops caring entirely.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m not saying Williams is trash. I\u2019m saying the league values archetypes, and \u201cformer top pick wing with 3-and-D potential\u201d still sells, even when the tape is messy. The bigger question is Dosunmu.<\/p>\n

The Athletic point that matters most is this: they don\u2019t believe the Bulls are trading him until it actually happens, because the Bulls clearly value him.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the reason this deal feels like fiction. If Dosunmu is truly valued internally, the Bulls can just keep him and pay him. Or they can shop him for a deal that includes draft capital, because an expiring guard playing this well will have a market.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s how the Bulls could justify it anyway.<\/p>\n

If they\u2019re not convinced they can keep Dosunmu at a number they like, they might prefer to get something tangible now, even if it\u2019s not picks. Rui has real basketball utility, and he would instantly become one of their better wings. Plus, if you flip Rui later, you might still get some kind of draft compensation from a contender who needs scoring size. That\u2019s the \u201ctwo-step\u201d plan teams run all the time.<\/p>\n

Also, Rui\u2019s shooting is a clean fit next to basically any ball-dominant creator. If the Bulls want to stabilize spacing and avoid the nightly \u201cwhy is the floor shrinking\u201d problem, he helps.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/p>\n

This trade idea is the perfect example of why the Lakers\u2019 deadline is so annoying every year.<\/p>\n

There are deals that make the team better in a vacuum, and then there are deals that make the team better without killing the next two summers. The Lakers are obsessed with the second category. That\u2019s why they keep getting linked to \u201cnice\u201d moves that never happen.<\/p>\n

If the Lakers could get Dosunmu without taking on the Williams contract, I\u2019d be way more into it. Dosunmu\u2019s production is real, the shooting is real, and the athleticism is the kind of ingredient this roster keeps lacking.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not the proposal.<\/p>\n

The Lakers don\u2019t want the Williams money on the books, and I don\u2019t buy the idea that the Bulls are eager to move Dosunmu unless someone throws in draft assets.<\/p>\n

If the Lakers want a real deadline win, they need to stop shopping like they\u2019re terrified of the future. But if they want to protect that cap space plan at all costs, this is the exact type of trade they should leave on the whiteboard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trade deadline is coming fast. That\u2019s why everything around the Los Angeles Lakers feels like one long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-428627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}