Zach LaVine Joins Forces with Nikola Jokić in Denver Exploring Trade Rumors That Make Sense

In the past of the world, there have been many great inventions that have made life much faster. As an example, the wheel is one of the top five. And we all applaud the person who had the crazy idea to put vanilla ice cream in the middle of two cookies and smash them together.

The Denver Nuggets are interested in getting Bulls guard Zach LaVine. This could be the start of a big step forward in basketball, like how the ice cream sandwich changed the world.

For many reasons, the shooting guard who scores a lot of points has become so overlooked that it’s almost funny.

Yes, his deal is very big. This year, LaVine made $43 million. He has two more years to earn about $46 million and $48.9 million, though the last year is a choice for the player.

The financial part of LaVine’s deal is a big problem. For the past few years, the league is said to have said that the contract couldn’t be traded because of how big it was.

That always seemed like going too far, and it smelled like teams or people were blaming LaVine for Chicago’s lack of success instead of looking at management and ownership, who have never seemed to know what to do with a player like him.

LaVine isn’t the first choice. People have put him in that position before, and he did okay, but he was never meant to be the main guy. That was done for a pretty important reason.

Throughout his career, and especially after he reached his peak in Chicago, LaVine turned into a truly evil off-ball shooter.

That same season, LaVine had the seventh-best catch-and-shoot 3-point percentage (48.9%) among players who had played in 50 or more games for Chicago. He was also the team’s main scoring weapon.

During the same season, he was the Bulls’ main offensive player and his cutting effectiveness put him in the 97th percentile. Defenses were getting ready to stop him.

Since then, LaVine has stayed a high-efficiency player when he isn’t playing with the ball. The only time he dropped below 40% on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers was during his injury-filled season last year when he could only play 25 games.

LaVine has never played with a player who is both a great playmaker and the first choice, which makes that level of efficiency even more interesting.

It’s safe to say that he’s never had his Batman.

He would finally have his… you know, Joker in Denver. In this case, Nikola Jokić is also Batman.

Okay, let’s not use the superhero comparison. LaVine has never played with a superstar, and he’s certainly never played with a superstar like Jokić, who could be one of the ten best players at all time.

Because he was so good at playing off the ball, LaVine would easily score 20 to 25 points per game in Denver.

The 29-year-old would also make defenses bend in a way that would make the floor bigger for both Jokić and Jamal Murray. This should give Denver’s attack new life.

Jokić gets double-teamed a lot, which would help LaVine right away because the ball would be moving and popping like he’s never seen it in Chicago, and no offense to DeMar DeRozan.

LaVine would also help Denver’s attack make more 3-point shots, which they need. While Michael Porter Jr. would probably go to Chicago as part of this deal, the forward isn’t as good at making 3-point shots off the dribble as LaVine because he can’t handle the ball as quickly or with enough touch while he twists his body in the air.

LaVine isn’t a great defender, but that doesn’t mean problems wouldn’t arise in Denver. But from an offensive point of view, the fit just makes sense.

In the NBA, deals that make sense don’t always happen. Most people who watch teams don’t see them going in that way, so we have to guess what a certain player on that team might look like.

In this case, the idea makes a lot of sense.

It is clear. It’s new. It’s the right thing to do. Because of this, don’t get your hopes up based on past events.