Bulls active as trade deadline looms, not to mention the Cavaliers

As management weighs the future, the Bulls’ present is serious stuff.

Losers of 18 of 23, playing without Joakim Noah for the season and Jimmy Butler and Nikola Mirotic for weeks, the Bulls face the Cavaliers on the road and Raptors at home in a back-to-back set beginning Thursday.

Whether they’re also without Pau Gasol will be determined before the 7 p.m. tipoff. That’s five hours after the league’s trade deadline and Gasol, according to league sources, is available for the right price.

As of late Wednesday, that price hasn’t budged — a rotation player who can make an immediate impact and a first-round pick, according to sources. The Bulls have turned down at least two offers for Gasol, one source said, so they won’t trade him just to trade him.

Still, that management is weighing whether to deal a player who has made clear he’ll exercise his player option and become an unrestricted free agent this summer underscores the precarious position the Bulls are in. Do they try to reshape the roster now or bank on Butler and Mirotic returning to ride it out and address issues this offseason?

In the latter scenario, the Bulls risk losing Gasol for nothing, although they haven’t ruled out trying to re-sign him this summer. After all, with Noah also set to be a free agent, the Bulls don’t have a center signed for next season other than unproven Cristiano Felicio. And the Bulls have more confidence in their ability to re-sign Gasol than Noah.

Not surprisingly, Tony Snell has drawn little interest, including in initial smaller talks with the Kings centered on Ben McLemore. Yahoo Sports reported a larger deal with the Kings centered on Snell and Gasol for McLemore, Kosta Koufos and a lowering of the protection on a potential first-round pick the Kings owe the Bulls.

The Bulls sit just $4.5 million above the luxury tax, but exiting it isn’t a main focus of trade talks, a source said. That’s because the Bulls reset the clock on the more punitive repeater tax with the 2014 trade of Luol Deng. And with the salary cap and tax threshhold rising dramatically the next two seasons because of the influx of TV money, paying the repeater tax isn’t likely.

Conflicting stories exist whether the Bulls or Raptors initiated talks centered on a Gibson for Patrick Patterson deal. However, the Bulls did ask for the lesser of the Raptors’ two first-round picks in those talks, regardless who initiated them, a source said.

Gibson said he talks to executive vice president John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman “almost every other day” and doesn’t have the feeling he’ll be dealt.

“I would be surprised, but I understand that it’s a part of the business,” Gibson said. “An offer could be made and things could be shaken up. It doesn’t mean they don’t like you or don’t appreciate you. It’s just that it’s a business. I totally understand it. I’ve been in (rumors) my whole career. But I know when to call their cell phones or home numbers, and if I feel funny just call them and we talk.”

The Bulls have won their first two games against both the Cavaliers and Raptors. But Mirotic played well in both Cleveland games, and Butler is one of the few defenders who makes LeBron James constantly work. Butler also had his franchise-record, 40-point half in one of the Toronto victories.

“We have two key pieces out of our lineup who have really helped those first couple of wins,” coach Fred Hoiberg said. “We have to have guys step up. We have Mike (Dunleavy) back, who we did not have the first two times we played (these teams). Hopefully, we’ll increase his minutes a little bit.”

If the Bulls lose both games, they would sit at .500, hardly inspiring stuff for a team that proclaimed championship aspirations at the start of the season. That’s why management is active.

“The thing about the East is if you do go on a run, you can make a jump in a hurry,” Hoiberg said. “That’s what we have to focus on.”

kcjohnson@tribpub.com

Twitter @kcjhoop