Indiana Pacers: A deal to acquire a former Pacer for Jeremy Lamb

Why the Chicago Bulls should pull the trigger on the deal

Despite Thaddeus Young elevating his play this season, the Chicago Bulls really don’t have the leverage here since they are trying to clear cap space and the 14-year player isn’t getting any younger. It only saves them a tad more than two million, but they can dangle Lamb to a third team or waive Martin to save even more money.

While they can simply terminate his partially guaranteed contract, the Bulls would be logical to attempt to net some immediate returns for the veteran, especially after failing to trade him in the deadline.

No disrespect to Thad, but Chicago is already quite stabilized in the frontcourt. As said, Vucevic is on board and Williams has been one of the best rookies this year. Also to be factored in is restricted free agent Lauri Markkanen, who can easily find himself donning the Bulls colors once more given the upcoming free agency’s dearth of game-changing frontcourt options, which may give the Bulls some compulsion to match even lofty offers.

It remains to be seen if Lamb is a keeper, but if so, he can provide some much-needed scoring to the Bulls who largely lacked consistent backcourt scoring sans Zach LaVine, as well as veteran leadership. Taking on Aaron Holiday, who has proven that he can put up big numbers when given ample court time, can also give them another explosive young guard who can play next to LaVine and even Coby White.

Ultimately, this is a move that can help Chicago chisel out some money to spend in the offseason, as they currently only have more than 10 million worth of wiggle room to improve their team. As such, dealing with the Indiana Pacers may be an avenue worth taking with the salary relief and young assets that they can acquire in exchange for a veteran whom they need less, especially with their roster construction.