The Chicago Bulls took the first step of what could be a tumultuous trade cycle, sending Zach LaVine to the Sacramento Kings in a three-team deal Sunday that finally completed the team’s years-long attempt to part ways with its longtime star.
The trade is likely to be only the first of the week for the Bulls, who are actively working to deal other key pieces, including center Nikola Vučević, before Thursday’s deadline.
This week also will serve as an introduction for Kevin Huerter, Tre Jones and Zach Collins, whom the Bulls acquired in the trade along with the rights to their own 2025 first-round pick, which they had traded to the San Antonio Spurs in the 2021 DeMar DeRozan deal. All three players will become unrestricted free agents by 2026, giving the Bulls a sudden luxury of roster flexibility as they build for the future.
This was always the long-term goal of a LaVine trade: acquire cheaper, expiring contracts and draft capital, then begin again on a new project. (Whether the Bulls front office gained back enough in draft capital is a different conversation.) In the short term, the trio will be dropped into a roster going through upheaval.
All three players are movable, so one or more could end up somewhere besides Chicago before the trade window closes Thursday. The Bulls are highly motivated to complete a series of trades this week, which means being malleable with contracts to glean as much draft capital and salary-cap flexibility as possible.
How will the trio fit in? Get to know the newest additions to the Bulls roster.
Kevin Huerter
- Position: Shooting guard
- Height: 6-foot-7
- Age: 26
- Former team: Kings
- NBA experience: 8th season
- Drafted: No. 19 in 2018
- Contract: Expires after 2025-26; $17.4 million average over remaining seasons
- Current stats: 7.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 41.3 FG%, 30.2 3-pt%
The Bulls added another shooter in Huerter, the highest-scoring player acquired in the LaVine trade. He spent the first four years of his career with the Atlanta Hawks before he was traded to the Kings in 2022.
Huerter is a true sharpshooter, taking the majority of his shots from 3-point range. His accuracy has slipped this season after shooting 38.2% behind the arc over his first six seasons, but the Bulls’ high-volume shooting offense might help him snap out of that slump.
Zach Collins
- Position: Power forward
- Height: 6-11
- Age: 27
- Former team: Spurs
- NBA experience: 7th season
- Drafted: No. 10 in 2017
- Contract: Expires after 2025-26; $17.4 million average over remaining seasons
- Current stats: 4.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 46.2 FG%, 30.4 3-pt%
Collins is the only frontcourt player acquired in this trade, adding needed length to the roster — albeit as another stretch big. That could be especially important if the Bulls succeed in moving Vučević this week, which would leave them with practically zero depth down low.
While he presents familiar questions as a rim protector (0.7 career blocked shots per game), Collins is similar to Vučević in how he can facilitate an offense through the paint and create shooting through pick-and-pop opportunities. He’s in a shooting rut similar to Huerter this season, performing below his 33.4% career 3-point mark. Given the pace of the Bulls offense, Collins makes sense as another big who can rim run and fire off 3s.
Tre Jones
- Position: Point guard
- Height: 6-1
- Age: 25
- Former team: Spurs
- NBA experience: 5th season
- Drafted: No. 41 in 2020
- Contract: Expires after 2024-25; $9.1 million salary this season
- Current stats: 4.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 48.4 FG%, 30.8 3-pt%
Jones has the shortest — and least expensive — contract the Bulls picked up. The former second-round pick had spent his entire career to date in San Antonio. He cracked the starting lineup in 2022-23 but fell out of the Spurs rotation over the last two seasons, especially after they added veteran Chris Paul this season.
Undersized even for a point guard, Jones is a solid passer and playmaker but has struggled with his 3-point shot and defense this season. He played against Coby White during the one year their college tenures overlapped at Duke and North Carolina, respectively. Jones’ brother Tyus is a starter for the Washington Wizards.
