Report: DeMar DeRozan drawing ‘serious interest’ on trade market

The Chicago Bulls are a team that plenty of fans have been paying attention to as the NBA’s trade deadline gets closer and closer.

Given that it has players like DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic on its roster, Chicago is surely disappointed with its record of 25-27 at this point in the season.

It seems that DeRozan is generating some “serious interest” on the trade market as uncertainty surrounds the Bulls.

“Overall, it seems as if the Bulls are more likely to keep the core of LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic together for the rest of the season, as relayed by Jack Maloney of CBS Sports,” wrote Sam Amico of Hoops Wire. “DeRozan, though, continues to draw ‘serious interest’ as well, sources said.”

It’ll be interesting to see if the six-time All-Star ends up getting moved ahead of the deadline. His contract isn’t too big at $27.3 million this season and $28.6 million next season. Furthermore, his deal is set to expire after the conclusion of the 2023-24 campaign.

The 33-year-old continue to show that he is one of the league’s top scorers, recording 26.0 points per game this season to go along with 4.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists per contest. He’s shooting 51.1 percent from the field and 32.9 percent from beyond the arc.

He’s seemingly gotten better with age and been putting up spectacular numbers ever since joining the Bulls prior to the start of the 2021-22 regular season.

Despite that individual success, DeRozan hasn’t been able to help the Bulls make that much noise. They seemed like strong contenders last season before key injuries tanked the team, as Chicago wound up losing to the Milwaukee Bucks in five games in the first round of the playoffs.

This season has been filled with lots of inconsistency for the Bulls. On top of that, LaVine has reportedly questioned his role with the franchise at times. LaVine has been linked to the Los Angeles Lakers, who seem to be on the hunt for more upgrades ahead of the deadline.

This year’s NBA trade deadline has already produced a fair amount of drama, and it’ll be interesting to see if there’s more ahead.