Could the Bulls form their own ‘super-team' in 2019?: The path to a Butler-Irving duo in Chicago

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On Tuesday, Joe Cowley of the Sun-Times reported that Jimmy Butler and Kyrie Irving may have plans to team up in the Eastern Conference.

This news comes just days after LeBron James, whose teams have won the Eastern Conference championship every year since 2011, decided to move west to the Los Angeles Lakers. In a weakened east, teams that position themselves to have enough cap-room to sign one or more elite players will grow more attractive as a destination, similar to the Miami Heat in 2010.

Of course Chicago has had their share of issues with players and management not getting along over the years, but as we saw with James returning to Cleveland in 2014, the opportunity to win and a team’s salary cap space dictate where a player will go, not the management.

With that being said, could the Bulls set themselves up to be a landing spot for Kyrie Irving and Jimmy Butler in 2019?

Before you yell at me, yes it is possible.

Assuming the Bulls would be willing — and again, who wouldn’t be willing to do what it takes to get two All-Stars — to trade some of their young talent, the Bulls could have a massive amount of cap-space.

Fast-forward to the offseason for the 2019-20 season. According to Ryan Borja of Bullsconf.com, in 2019 if the Bulls were to renounce the rights—meaning they don't put a qualifying offer on the table— to restricted free agents Jerian Grant and Cameron Payne, and then waive Asik, who is only guaranteed $3 million that season, they would have a projected $64.6 million in cap space. That would create enough room to offer both players north of $30 million per year.

The other route for the Bulls to go is acquire either Butler or Irving first, in hopes of enticing the other to come to Chicago.

Of course the chances of getting Butler back in any sort of trade with Tom Thibodeau is extremely unlikely, but Irving is another story completely.

So far there have not been any indication from Irving that he is interested in leaving what is a great situation in Boston, but if he was to use his “pre-agency” (time period before a player is a free agent) to let Boston know that his intentions were to leave, they would quickly start scanning the landscape for a trade offer. The Bulls could look to move LaVine to Boston at some point during the season, assuming Chicago retains him this offseason. But a more likely deal would center around Kris Dunn, who the Celtics thought long and hard about drafting at No. 3 in the 2016 NBA draft.

A deal of Dunn, Denzel Valentine, Bobby Portis, Robin Lopez's expiring contract and two first-round picks might be enough to get the deal done. There is no guarantee that Butler and Irving, who both have long injury histories, would be completely healthy over the length of their first two seasons with the Bulls. So those picks could have decent value, and even more so if they came without protections on them.

Trading for Irving allows a team to retain his Bird rights, meaning a team can go over the salary cap to retain him. This would allow the Bulls front office to offer Irving a max-contract extension and still have space to go after Butler.

By biding their time and letting all 29 other teams eat up their cap space, the Bulls are positioned to be a destination team for the next big “super-team up”. And for those who see no chance of Butler returning because of burnt bridges upon his departure, never forget Butler loves Chicago real estate.

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