The path to a Butler-Irving duo in Chicago

Tuesday, Joe Cowley of the Sun-Times reported that Jimmy Butler and Kyrie Irving might have plans to join the Eastern Conference

This news comes just days after LeBron James, whose teams have won the East Conference championship every year since 2011, decided to move west to the Los Angeles Lakers. In a weakened, teams that position themselves to have enough room to sign one or more elite players will become more attractive as a destination, similar to the Miami Heat in 2010.

Of course, Chicago has had its share of problems with players and management who do not hear over the years – but we saw James come back to Cleveland in 2014 – but the opportunity to win and the salary cap of a team determine where a player will go, not the direction.

That being said, could the Bulls set up landing sites for Kyrie Irving and Jimmy Butler in 2019?

Before yelling at me, yes it is possible.

Assuming that the Bulls would be ready – and again, who would not be willing to do what it takes to get two All-Stars – to exchange some of their young talents and stretch the monstrous contract from Omer Asik, the Bulls could have a huge amount of ceiling space.

Fast forward to the offseason for the 2019-20 season. According to the salary cap calculator on Cleaningtheglbad.com, in 2019, if the Bulls were to waive the rights – which means they do not put a qualifying bid on the table – to restricted free agents Jerian Grant and Cameron Payne , so use the extended clause on Asik, they would have a cap of $ 60.8 million. That would be enough to offer one player to the north of $ 30 million a year and another close to $ 26 million a year, which would mean that one of the two stars would need a pay cut . In the past this may have been a crazy proposal, but in the NBA landscape today it would be pretty bbad.

The other way for the Bulls is to acquire one from Butler or Irving to lure each other to Chicago

Of course, the chances of finding Butler in any trade with Tom Thibodeau are extremely unlikely. But Irving is another story completely.

Up to now, there has been no indication from Irving that he is interested in leaving what is a good situation in Boston, but s & # 39; 39, he used his "pre-agency" a player is a free agent) to let Boston know that his intentions were to leave, they would quickly start sweeping the landscape for a significant commercial offer. The Bulls may be looking to move LaVine to Boston at some point during the season, baduming Chicago keeps it off during the off season. But a more likely deal would be centered on Kris Dunn, as the Celtics pondered at length on drafting the No. 3 2016 NBA draft.

<p clbad = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb ( 0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm "type =" text "content =" An affair of Dunn, Denzel Valentine, Bobby Portis, the expiring contract of Robin Lopez and two first-round picks II There is no guarantee that Butler and Irving, both of whom have a history of injury, are in perfect health during their first two seasons with the Bulls, even more so if they came unprotected on them. " data-reactid = "32"> An agreement from Dunn, Denzel Valentine, Bobby Portis, Robin Lopez's expiring contract and two first-round picks could be enough to close the deal. There is no guarantee that Butler and Irving, both of whom have a history of injury, are in perfect health during their first two seasons with the Bulls. So these choices could have decent value, and even more so they came unprotected.

The reason why Irving would be so important to pick up Butler – in addition to their friendship – is that the acquisition of Irving through a transaction allows team to keep his rights bird, which means that # 39, a team may exceed the salary cap to retain it. This would allow the Bulls front office to offer Irving a maximum contract extension and still have room for Butler.

Waiting for their time and leaving the other 29 teams to eat their place, the Bulls are positioned to be the destination team for the next big "super-team". And for those who see no chance that Butler will come back, considering what looks like a lot of bridges burned at his departure, never forget that Butler loves Chicago real estate.