After Westbrook passes, Bulls set to add Chicago native Beverley
The Bulls missed out on a chance to add Russell Westbrook, but brokered a homecoming for another fiery point guard, Patrick Beverley.
Is Beverley a consolation prize or should he have been the Bulls' top priority all along?
If nothing else, the Chicago native helped push the Minnesota Timberwolves through the play-in tournament last year, which is where the Bulls may end up.
Beverley, 34, is a South Side native who played at Marshall High School. He's long been known as an intense competitor who specializes in defense. He averaged 6.4 points for the Lakers this season before being traded to Orlando for Mo Bamba.
Monday began with the news Westbrook decided to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers. The Bulls made a sales pitch to Westbrook, offering the chance to reunite with Billy Donovan, who was on the bench for some of Westbrook's best years in Oklahoma City.
Joining the Clippers makes sense for Westbrook. He's a native of Los Angeles and won't have to change cities after playing for the Lakers. The Clippers are in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race, and Westbrook was being publicly recruited by Clippers forward Paul George, a former OKC teammate.
The Bulls likely tried to sell Westbrook on a potential long-term home. If things went reasonably well, they could be interested in bringing him back next season to either lead the second unit, or continue to fill in for the injured Lonzo Ball.
Westbrook has averaged a triple-double over a full season four times in his career and the first three times it happened, Donovan was his coach.
But the Bulls haven't won a game since the trade deadline and limped into the all-star break on a six-game losing streak. Ball's rehab will likely extend into the summer and Bulls season is looking more and more like a lost cause.
With 23 games left in the regular season, they'll resume play Friday two games behind Toronto for 10th place, which represents the final spot in the play-in tournament.
Beverley agreed to a contract buyout with Orlando and didn't seem to have the option to join a title contender. The Bulls will hope he can create a spark with his new teammates as the regular season winds down. The Bulls will need to release a player in order to sign Beverley.
While the Bulls are close to a play-in spot, they're just also two games ahead of Orlando for the league's fifth-worst record. If they continue to sink in the standings, the Bulls would at least have a chance to keep their 2023 first-round draft pick.
That pick is protected, which means they'd need to land in the top four on lottery night to keep the pick. Otherwise, it goes to the Magic as the final piece of the Nikola Vucevic trade.
After sitting out two games before the break with a right quad strain, DeMar DeRozan logged 16 minutes in Sunday's low-energy All-Star Game. After the game, he said he's planning to head into the final stretch feeling "full strength and healthy."
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