Bulls could bring in Mayo a number of ways

The Chicago Bulls interest in shooting guard O.J. Mayo is intriguing, given the teams financial question marks and need at the position. And there are a few scenarios where Mayo could land in the Windy City, giving the Bulls an impressive shooter with plenty of upside next season.
Yahoo! Sports' Marc Spears first reported that the Bulls had interest in Mayo, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2008 draft, and that the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers also were interested.
The 24-year-old Mayo averaged 18.5 points per game his rookie season, followed by 17.5 points per game his sophomore season. But in the last two seasons, Mayo has seen his role and, subsequently, numbers diminish. Last season Mayo averaged 12.6 points per game, making 1.5 3-pointers on 36.4 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
It's not surprising the Bulls have shown interest in Mayo, but it may be a race against time for the Bulls to offer and potentially secure his services.
Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald laid out a handful of possible scenarios that would free up enough salary cap space to comfortably bring Mayo to Chicago.
As is the case with any of the Bulls' future free agency moves, much of it will hinge on what the Bulls plan to do with Omer Asik. The Bulls are yet to receive an offer sheet from the Rockets, who are waiting on the Knicks to match or decline Jeremy Lin's three-year, 25 million offer sheet.
Once the Rockets move to Asik's deal and send Chicago an offer sheet, the Bulls will have three days to either match or decline.
The Kyle Korver trade netted the Bulls a 5 million trade exception (equal to Korver's contract for next season) and cash considerations, the team announced today. That gives them the option to perform a sign-and-trade with Memphis for Mayo, surrendering draft picks in return and giving Mayo 5 million in his first year.
Involving Rip Hamilton's 5 million expiring contract for next season would also give the Bulls some leverage, but as of Monday afternoon there had not been any serious takers for the 34-year-old shooting guard.
Should Chicago decline Asik's offer sheet from the Rockets, the Bulls could use the full mid-level exception (5 million) to use on Mayo rather than the taxpayer mid-level exception (3 million), which Mayo would be less likely to sign. It also, of course, would give the Bulls more cap space to use in the future on signing Mayo and others to longer-term deals.
All this could be for naught if the Suns, a team with plenty of cap space, or any other team decides to break the bank on Mayo, who reportedly wants 10 million a year. That number won't happen, but if Phoenix offers Mayo anywhere near 7-8 million per year, the Bulls could not match.
There are scenarios where the Bulls could bring Mayo in, specifically via a sign-and-trade using the trade exception from the Korver trade. It could happen quickly, especially if the Bulls' brass knows what they plan to do with Asik.