Bulls trade Holiday to Memphis, plan to waive Payne
The Chicago Bulls are moving on from Justin Holiday and Cameron Payne.
They agreed to trade Holiday to the Memphis Grizzlies for a pair of shooting guards - MarShon Brooks and Wayne Selden - and two future second-round picks, one each in 2019 and 2020. To reach the roster limit, the Bulls are expected to release Payne.
A team source wasn't sure if the trade would become official on Thursday evening or Friday morning. It depends on when the league is ready to do the trade call.
Holiday didn't figure to be a long-term piece in the Bulls' rebuilding plan. He's started every game at small forward this season and the Bulls have no long-term solution at that position beyond rookie Chandler Hutchison.
Holiday, 29, averaged 11.6 points this season. His value took a hit when his 3-point shot went south. Since Dec. 1, Holiday has shot just 28.3 percent from behind the arc.
The Bulls thought Payne might be a piece for the future. He was pegged to back up Kris Dunn this year, then started 12 games early in the season when Dunn was injured.
But Payne was outplayed by Ryan Arcidiacono, then newcomer Shaq Harrison, and fell out of the rotation. The Bulls surely tried to trade him and found no takers. Payne was the 14th overall pick in the 2014 draft who joined the Bulls in the Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott trade from Oklahoma City.
The 6-foot-5 Brooks was the No. 25 pick of the 2011 draft out of Providence, chosen between Nikola Mirotic and Jimmy Butler. He had a good rookie season with the Nets, then bounced around to Boston, Golden State and the Lakers before falling out of the NBA and playing in Italy and China for four years.
Brooks, 29, was signed by Memphis late last season and averaged 6.6 points this year for the Grizzlies. The 6-foot-5 Selden was undrafted out of Kansas in 2016. He's played sparingly for Memphis and averaged 5.4 points.
So what was the point of this trade? The Bulls gained about $1 million in the salary swap, but will have to eat the rest of Payne's $3.3 million deal. The Bulls wanted to get something for Holiday and settled on two second-round picks.
Memphis swapped a couple of bench guys for someone it hopes can be a helpful player and calming influence after a reported locker room fight between Garrett Temple and Omri Casspi happened after a loss on Wednesday night.