The Athletic's John Hollinger says that Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. is a "lock" to be traded ahead of the NBA trade deadline. Do the Bulls project as a team that could get involved in a potential multi-team deal?
The Chicago Bulls are at a bit of a crossroads ahead of the NBA trade deadline (Thursday, February 5, 2026, at 3 p.m. ET). They have several expiring contracts, the team isn't performing well, but several of the expiring contracts are players who conceivably have some value to the team on an extension. At the time of this writing, Chicago sits at 18-20, and a familiar 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings.
This current Chicago regime has been a bit unpredictable in terms of whether they will shake things up, like the original trade to bring Nikola Vucevic to Chicago, or when they will sit on their hands and do nothing, like most of the other trade deadlines in Chicago under their tenure.
But the Zach LaVine trade--which to the credit of Arturas Karnisovas looks like a solid deal for the Bulls--was a major deadline deal (took place on February 3rd, 2025), and a three-team trade in which the Bulls were able to get off a contract they wanted to dump (LaVine) and extract some assets they desired (their own 2025 1st round pick back, Tre Jones, etc.). Is it possible we could see the Bulls get involved in a similar deal this trade deadline? Not likely, but the opportunity looks like it will certainly be there.
According to The Athletic's John Hollinger, in NBA circles, the Brooklyn Nets are a virtual "lock" to trade Michael Porter Jr. It makes a ton of sense, as the 6-foot-10, sharpshooting forward is in the middle of the best season of his career. Porter Jr. is currently averaging 25.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 39.7% from 3-point range on a whopping 9.4 attempts per game from deep.
Porter Jr. has one more year left on his deal at $40.8 million before he hits unrestricted free agency. The Nets can capitalize on MPJ's career-year, and get a player they feel more fits their long-term vision, or they can simply cash in for more draft picks. Where do the Bulls get involved? It seems unlikely that the Bulls would be interested in adding Porter Jr. as it would surely cost them a draft pick, but conversely, we have seen the Bulls cash in draft picks for players they like before (Vucevic and DeRozan).
The more likely way the Bulls would get involved in an MPJ trade is as a third team, likely sending away one (or more) of their expiring contracts--Ayo Dosunmu, Kevin Huerter, Zach Collins, Nikola Vucevic, Coby White--in order to help match salary and receive a draft pick for facilitating a deal in which he lands somewhere else.
Chicago needs to be in asset collection mode, so getting involved in one of the (likely) upcoming big trades as a facilitator would be a savvy move. Only time will tell if the Bulls choose to get active, or recalibrate and assess their options ahead of the offseason, when decisions will have to be made on their bevy of unrestricted free agents.