The Chicago Bulls are actively looking to acquire a guard ahead of the NBA trade deadline, per Shams Charania from The Athletic. The Bulls’ point guard rotation is currently constructed around Ayo Dosunmu, Alex Caruso, Coby White, and Goran Dragic. Whatever talent they bring in must be an upgrade over the guards they have today. Assuming the Bulls keep Zach LaVine, that rules out any possibility of trading for a shooting guard, which helps us reduce their potential target list.

According to @ShamsCharania on ESPN 1000's Waddle and Silvy Show, the Chicago Bulls are active in the trade market and are trying to get guard help. The Bulls don't want to tank and want to continue to compete for a playoff spot.
— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) February 3, 2023

The Bulls are left with three notable players they could potentially target before the trade deadline: Kyrie Irving, Fred VanVleet, and Bones Hyland. To acquire Irving or VanVleet, the Bulls would need to make severe changes to their core which would go against everything Arturas Karnisovas has been preaching since the summer of continuity. Granted, that philosophy has failed the Bulls so far into their second season with this roster, but it’s hard to imagine the Bulls’ management would make a significant change at the deadline.

However, Bones Hyland is not only a realistic option for the Bulls, but he may check off many of the boxes for their franchise. Since the new management has been put in place, they traded away the 2021, 2023, and 2025 first-round picks. The Bulls have very few young talented players coming into the pipeline anytime soon, and their stars are only getting older. There are better recipes to build a winning franchise than that, but adding Bones Hyland could help the team this season and be a future piece to build around.

“Per Marc Stein of Substack ($), the Bulls reportedly want two first-round picks in a deal for Caruso. Would the Bulls consider Hyland as a first-rounder, and would the 2029 first the Nuggets could actually offer be enough to entice them? If so, Hyland, Jeff Green, Ish Smith and the 2029 first is a package that could get the ball rolling.” – Neikas Duncan From Basketball NEWS

Denver has begun gauging the trade value of Bones Hyland, per @JakeLFischer pic.twitter.com/kml3N5WVFi
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) January 27, 2023

Should The Bulls Prioritize Trading For Bones Hyland?

Bones Hyland was a first-round pick in the 2021 draft and has turned out to be a scoring stud in the league. Despite playing on the best team in the NBA, Hyland has carved out his playing time at 22 by averaging 22 points per game per 36 minutes adjusted, along with 37% shooting from behind the arc. As a 6’3 explosive scorer, Hyland is everything the Bulls hoped Coby White would become in this league. As Basketball News reported, it’d be tough to turn that down if the Bulls could acquire Hyland but also receive an additional first-round pick for Alex Caruso.

The Denver Nuggets are focused more on putting together a win-now team around Nikola Jokic. A player like Alex Caruso could push them over the edge of being the heavy favorites to win the title. Losing Bones Hyland would hurt their long-term plans, but they’d happily trade him if they could bring home the Larry O’Brien trophy.

The Chicago Bulls need to make a trade if they are serious about making a playoff push. They are poised to make the play-in tournament, which was different from the goal coming into the season. If the Bulls could figure out a package to acquire an impactful guard to help fill the void of Lonzo Ball without distributing their core team, they must entertain that trade idea. Bones Hyland is the only option on the table to check off those categories.