Report: Chicago Bulls could target Joe Harris for playoff push

The Chicago Bulls could target sharpshooter Joe Harris in the buyout market, according to NBC Sports Chicago’s K.C. Johnson.

The Pistons are expected to waive Harris after making several moves at the trade deadline. Harris has only played in 16 games for Detroit this season, averaging 10.6 minutes per game.

“The Pistons are expected to waive Joe Harris, who could be a target after the Bulls tried to acquire Bojan Bogdanović from Detroit, sources said,” Johnson wrote.

Bogdanovic landed with the New York Knicks at the trade deadline, along with guard Alec Burks, in a deal that sent Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, Malachi Fynn and draft capital to the Pistons.

Chicago clearly is looking to remain competitive if the team wanted to trade for Bogdanovic, and it appears that Harris could be a secondary option to give the team more shooting. The Bulls are a little thin in that department with Zach LaVine out for the season due to foot surgery.

This season, Harris is averaging 2.4 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game while shooting 35.9 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc. For his career, Harris is a 43.6-percent shooter from deep. He shot 42.6 percent from 3-point range in 74 games with the Brooklyn Nets last season.

Adding Harris would give the Bulls an option to stretch the floor alongside Coby White, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic. The Bulls currently rank 24th in the NBA in 3-point percentage and 25th in 3-pointers made per game this season.

The Bulls currently hold the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference and are three games back of the Orlando Magic for the No. 8 seed. Getting the No. 8 spot would be important, as it would give the Bulls two chances in the NBA’s play-in tournament to win one game to make the final playoff field in the East.

With DeRozan in the final season of his contract, the Bulls look to be attempting to maximize their core. In fact, Bulls vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas revealed that he would rather compete than go into a rebuild at this time.

It’ll be interesting to see if a player like Harris helps the Bulls climb the standings in the East over the final stretch of the 2023-24 regular season.