by Andrew on Mon Jul 03, 2017 11:17 am
Realistically, I think the only good way for Wade to move on would be through a buyout, or letting him walk at the end of the season. It's hard to imagine a likely scenario where they get a good return when trading him.
I'd assume that he'd prefer to go to a Playoff-bound team, who might be interested in expanding their depth with a proven veteran who can still at least give them good minutes here and there. However, such a team is not going to give up a quality player from their core rotation to do that, and outside of Boston, they're not going to have lottery picks to offer either, so the Bulls aren't going to get anything that'll help in the rebuilding process. Indeed, they're more likely to get saddled with a couple of bad contracts in return, which will mean they've traded one problem for another that can't be resolved as easily.
Fellow lottery-bound, rebuilding teams probably aren't going to be all that interested in Wade, but even if they are, the returns are going to be pretty much the same. They're not going to give up a lottery pick for him; at least not without some stringent protection in place that basically guarantees that the Bulls won't get it. Any players the Bulls get in return are not going to be long-term solutions, and will probably have worse contracts that still have a couple of years left on them.
And of course, in both situations, GarPax are likely to throw in picks to get the deal done, making a lousy and unnecessary trade even worse. Wade's not a long-term solution but he's also in the last year of his contract, so let him walk at the end of the season, or buy him out beforehand. There have been times when I've grumbled that GarPax let players get away for nothing, but this is a situation where a trade is very unlikely to put them in a better position, but is very likely to put them in a worse one. In this case, letting a player go for nothing and cutting their losses is a better way to come out ahead, since they won't be giving up anything valuable to the rebuilding process, namely future cap space and Draft picks.