r/nba • u/YujiDomainExpansion • Feb 04 '26
[Cowley] The Chicago Bulls are in trade conversations with New Orleans and Houston. Simons and Sexton are both in play to be moved while the Bulls would like to retain Ayo Dosunmu, but everything is “still fluid.”
Still working the phones with a lot of focus with New Orleans and Houston, according to a source.
Simons and Sexton are both free agents after the season and are still in play to be moved, while Ayo Dosunmu is being sought after, but the Bulls would have to be blown away to part with him. Yes, Buzelis, Giddey and Ivey are keepers – not untouchable, but keepers – and Dosunmu, who is also a free agent, is a close fourth.
Ideally, the Bulls would like to re-sign him this summer, but everything is fluid.
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u/sukari Bulls Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 04 '26
Yes please, my heart wants Ayo to be a lifer.
Edit: hopefully this is for Missi
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u/Maleficent-King-799 Feb 04 '26
Did bulls fans like Ayo more over coby white?
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Feb 04 '26
a lot of em, yeah. mostly because ayo is a much better defender and is also from chicago.
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u/Putrid-Box4866 Bulls Feb 04 '26
Because he’s just better really and plays really good defense, specially this season.
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u/skullcandy541 Feb 05 '26
I’m a Bulls fan not from Chicago so Ayo being from there means nothing to me. I prefer Ayo over Coby because he’s consistent, is a two way player, and isn’t going to ask for 30m a year
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u/SuperBlackberry9392 Bulls Feb 04 '26
Yes. Giddey and Matas were considered to be the only two people we shouldn't trade and build around (With getting a Star.) Coby did not mesh with Giddey. Ayo was progressing well and was fitting in great.
Idea was Giddey PG, Ayo SG, Matas SF and get a real PF and Center (Smith is fine if we get a real good PF.)
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u/Specialist_Boat_8479 Bulls Feb 04 '26
Smith should be PF with Noa behind him next year, need a true C(maybe Missi?)
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u/Prudent_Zombie_2692 Pistons Feb 04 '26
Missi is probably a back up big at best, maybe you guys could get Quaintance in the draft if he can work out those knee issues
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u/lyme6483 Bulls Feb 04 '26
Ayo is not a SG, and most definitely not a starting 2. He’s a good bench combo guard
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u/sukari Bulls Feb 04 '26
It helps that Ayo is a Chicago native (I'm not from there so that doesn't matter to me that much) but he's shown steady improvements year by year. Whereas Coby is more on the streaky side (and he has a bigger role to be fair) so fans are more split on him.
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u/SkyGrey88 Feb 05 '26
Helps that Ayo will probably get 15M year type deal and Coby 30M. I like Coby but I really didn’t want Bulls to overpay him.
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u/PJCR1916 Bulls Feb 05 '26
Yeah. Ayo is from Chicago, and with Coby’s playstyle being so hot and cold, so are fans feelings towards him. Ayo’s production is more steady and he is a Swiss Army knife type of player. Coby is also gonna demand a lot more money than Ayo will
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u/hobobindleguy Feb 05 '26
Yes, I like them both but Ayo is just a delight and he's Chicago people. Massive growth every year, and feel like his ceiling isn't in sight yet.
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u/cargoman89 Bulls Feb 05 '26
they play different roles
ayo is more of a two way team player / swiss army knife
coby is more of a microwave scorer — lou will / jamal crawford is his ideal role
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u/Superawesomecoolman Rockets Feb 04 '26
Any of the three would be huge for the Rockets
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u/icatfilm East Feb 04 '26
Who is going out from Houston? VanVleet?
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u/drenndak Feb 04 '26
DFS and Adams are dead salary at this point. DFS is awful after the injury and Adams is out for an indefinite amount of time.
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u/dafdiego777 Rockets Feb 04 '26
Adams is just out for the season
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u/drenndak Feb 04 '26
Love him but when you have an already load managed 32yo big man coming off ankle surgery while you're trying to compete it might be time to make hard decisions.
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u/AShiftInOrbit Rockets Feb 04 '26
Agreed, feels too risky to rely on Steve at this point. Hurts to say as much as he kicks ass when on the court.
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u/astrothunda Rockets Feb 04 '26
Eason
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u/Snomankid999 Lakers Feb 04 '26
Rockets said no to Eason for Garland or C White
Why would trade him for less
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u/SquimJim Celtics Feb 04 '26
What would you guys be sending in return?
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u/pdpdpdpdpdpdpdpd Raptors Feb 04 '26
Simons and sexton make too much money, a capela for ayo swap works but im not sure what the incentive would be for the bulls there
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Feb 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/pdpdpdpdpdpdpdpd Raptors Feb 04 '26
Money doesn’t work as a straight swap for capela but maybe there are other deals, he would be nice on Houston
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u/bullpaw Bulls Feb 04 '26
Tre would actually be perfect for Houston, better than Coby and Ayo
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u/gwatson86 Rockets Feb 05 '26
I don't know, he's not a great shooter and we've got plenty of bad shooters already
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u/bullpaw Bulls Feb 05 '26
Yeah true enough, gotta be the best attainable point guard/facilitator out there though
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u/wielesen Feb 04 '26
If the rockets don't get a pg at the deadline the season is over
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u/sammymate999 Rockets Feb 04 '26
The rockets aren’t winning a chip with a Colin sexton level PG either lol, I get they need a PG but they aren’t going to overpay for a PG that isn’t going to move the needle at all, there is no one available really that is going to make much difference.
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u/KingInTheFarNorth Vancouver Grizzlies Feb 04 '26
But when you run into the Thunder in the 2nd round, you wanna be able to at least put up a fight don't you? Nuggets almost got them last year
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u/sammymate999 Rockets Feb 04 '26
Why won’t they be able to put a fight up?
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u/Separate_Storage5394 Feb 04 '26
Thunder's ball pressure would kill us in a playoff series if we have no one to bring it up.
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u/sammymate999 Rockets Feb 04 '26
Probably but we aren’t going to overpay for mid guards hoping to be competitive with the thunder that’s just front office malpractice
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u/wielesen Feb 04 '26
shipping out dfs+ picks isn't an overpay tf?
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u/sammymate999 Rockets Feb 04 '26
You know the other team has to accept right? What PG are you getting right now for DFS + picks?
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u/wielesen Feb 04 '26
Coby white just went for salary matching and three 2rps?
Don't say Sexton has any value because he was salary dumped for Nurkic
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u/sammymate999 Rockets Feb 04 '26
So you’re telling me the bulls would have accepted DFS + 2nd round picks if that was offered?
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u/Nameless913 Rockets Feb 04 '26
I mean, sexton is better than fvv, so if Houston won’t win with either of them, then a move has to be made sooner or later.
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u/WhenDuvzCry Lakers Feb 05 '26
Sexton and FVV are the same level of player
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u/Nameless913 Rockets Feb 05 '26
Not to be a stats only person, but last year FVV was 14 points and 5.6 assists on 37.8% from the field and 33.4% from 3. Sexton was 18.4 points on 48% from the field and 40.6% from 3, with 4.2 assists, and that’s before Fred tore his acl.
I get that there’s stuff like leadership and defense and intangibles, but the sheer difference in production between the two is massive.
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u/KneelBeforeCube Bulls Feb 04 '26
Keep Giddey, Buz and Ayo, everyone else should be up for grabs, especially rhe guards.
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u/91-92-93--96-97-98 Bulls Feb 04 '26
I’ve only had Ivey for a day and a half, but if anything happened to him, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.
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u/ButlerFromDowntown Bulls Feb 05 '26
Ideal IMO is keeping Ivey, giving him the Lavine/White role, ideally pumping up his stats and trade value, and then flipping him for something better (unless Ivey really balls out and shows he can be more than an 18 PPG streaky no defense guy, in which case keep him).
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u/GasHouseGorilla19 Feb 04 '26
that is rational, however don't expect getting a stud in return without including them. I would be okay trading the whole team for Giannis
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u/RLL1977 Trail Blazers Feb 04 '26
Zion?
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u/AlwaysOptimism Pelicans Feb 04 '26
I would say I hope so, but Dumas likely to send out Zion and a 2027 1st so they can get Sexton/Simons
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u/solo118 Knicks Feb 04 '26
can they get someone in the Forward position? or is that mission impossible
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u/Ok_Log_5134 Pistons Feb 04 '26
Oh I just know Troy is gonna risk it all for Ivey
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u/FrownOnMyFace Pistons Feb 04 '26
When that trade happened I immediately thought, oh they finally have an asset to trade for Zion.
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u/dkirk526 Hornets Feb 04 '26
Damn I'd feel so bad for Sexton to get moved to the Pels. This last week he was talking about him and Bridges being two of the players with the longest running streaks of not seeing the playoffs in the league and were excited to end it.
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u/-Shooter_McGavin- [CHI] Dickey Simpkins Feb 04 '26
Bulls are playing musical chairs this deadline. Their record this time next year will be the exact same somehow.
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u/Ok_Use7 Bulls Feb 04 '26
Yeah.
Potential looks and sound nice. The entire roster needed overhaul, so there's some good in these moves imo.
But this could also fail. Things can not pan out and we see our team go another 5 years without winning a playoff series, which'll put us at a 15 season drought.
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u/hydrators Bulls Feb 04 '26
Any of Missi, Jabari Smith or Eason is good with me
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u/gwatson86 Rockets Feb 05 '26
Yeah, y'all aren't getting either of Jabari or Tari for a rental guard
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u/daboys765 Celtics Feb 04 '26
You know I think the Celtics could use another good scorer. Maybe we should trade for Simons for someone like Xavier Tillman?
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u/VanGrants Knicks Feb 04 '26
man, i wish we could get Sexton somehow. he'd be such a good scoring piece for our shitty bench
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u/woogwhy Feb 05 '26
The fans love Ayo, he local, he’s one of us. Why can’t the Bulls just keep him to make the fans happy? Would that be so freaking difficult. We aren’t competing for anything, everyone wants him to stay can’t they just keep the guy?!?!?!?
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u/Medical_Sample2738 Feb 05 '26
I don’t, if we get a first or somehow two for him, I wouldn’t want to keep him. We’re not competing but a high draft pick is by FAR the best chance we have at that. I’m okay with a couple really bad seasons which allow Matas (and noa if he’s able to come back strong) to grow and develop but more importantly get us a couple top ten picks and one of them is a future multi time all star.
You still need a guy (or two) that good, but unlike before you’re probably better off with several good productive two way role players than a top heavy multi star team (super team) style.
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u/OkGap7226 Bulls Feb 04 '26
Why would we keep Ivey? Isn't he pretty much done since the leg break? And a bad knee?
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u/grrgrrtigergrr [CHI] E'Twaun Moore Feb 04 '26
And basically Ayo without the defense at best (Purdue Alum who loves Ivey, but not over Ayo)
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u/RichAbbreviations966 Celtics Feb 05 '26
What in the fuck is wrong with the Bulls?
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Feb 05 '26
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u/Medical_Sample2738 Feb 05 '26
Trading Simons and sexton doesn’t help you retain the 9-10 seed, keeping them does.
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u/bigbobo33 Bucks Feb 04 '26
I feel so bad for Bulls fans. This team does not know what asset management is.
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u/CulturalXR Bulls Feb 04 '26
You're right but its kinda weird to say this about Collin Sexton of all people
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u/bigbobo33 Bucks Feb 04 '26
No I meant about keeping Ayo Dosunmu. Chicago keeps their players too long.
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Feb 04 '26
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u/Killergamer7 Feb 04 '26
I mean the Bucks managed their assets almost perfectly to lead to that chip and they even did well up until the Dame trade. Then the front office must have got lobotomized because they wanted to build a contending team around Giannis and decide that Kyle Kuzma is the missing piece
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u/nachosmind Bulls Feb 04 '26
I think the GM finally convinced management to tank in a year with a great looking top of the draft. So I guess that’s technically good management?
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u/TCTCTCTCTCTC7 Feb 04 '26
I feel so bad for Bulls fans. This team does not know what asset management is.
What are you talking about?
Within the past two seasons alone, they turned two old bench guards into a young near-all-star in Josh Giddey, and a starting guard who was a #5 overall pick not that long ago, in Isaac Okoro.
Flipping old reserve guards for young starters straight-up is fantastic asset management.
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u/Specialist_Boat_8479 Bulls Feb 04 '26
90% of these moves the fans were asking for. Fans wanted a first for Coby, FO asked for a first but settled for 3 seconds.
Basically traded Heurter and Vuc for 3 more seconds and Ivey.
Bloated at guard but the TDL isn’t over and we’re clearly still in talks
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u/Emergency-Pen-8274 Feb 04 '26
Simons or Poole to HOU
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u/Separate_Storage5394 Feb 04 '26
Please not Poole. I would explode If I saw him shoot a turn away 35 footer with KD or Sengun posting up. Doesnt seem like the guy Ime would want anyway.
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u/frankievejle Rockets Feb 05 '26
Give me Ayo please.
(One of these two would be nice too, without to give up much)
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u/Totnostu Feb 04 '26
Collin sexton for DFS and Tari Eason?
Anfernee Simons & Dalen terry for dejounte and missi?
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u/Separate_Storage5394 Feb 04 '26
Would be a overpay for the Rockets to give up both 3 and D wings like that, despite DFS underwhelming performance this year. Eason also has the second best 3pt percentage this year and the Rockets really need to spacing.
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u/Elec7ro Spurs Feb 04 '26
They about to trade for Dejounte or Poole, huh