The Chicago Tribune reports that the Bulls have opened talks with the Minnesota Timberwolves about a trade of forward Kyle Korver and his $5 million non-guaranteed contract for net season. The target of such talks is an odd return, another point guard.
Wednesday brought another day of number-crunching and phone calls, with the Bulls attempting to trade Kyle Korver before Sunday's deadline on his $5 million option arrives. League sources said the Bulls, after having conversations with the Hawks, shifted their focus to the Timberwolves.
The target was unclear. One league source said the Bulls inquired about Luke Ridnour, who would seem to duplicate Hinrich and also add another year of salary. However, Ridnour's $4.32 million salary expires in 2014 at a time when the Bulls could make major changes with Hinrich's and Luol Deng's deals ending and the amnesty provision likely being used on Carlos Boozer.
via Chicago Bulls: Chicago Bulls in free agent holding pattern - chicagotribune.com.
So that's weird.
The idea being bandied about is that the Bulls are once again, as always, desperate to avoid the luxury tax, and with Omer Asik having been given a poison-pill offer from the Houston Rockets, the Bulls will be swallowing the penalty anyway, but need to clear as much excess as they can.
Korver is far from an expendable asset, though, as he has been the Bulls' singular perimeter threat outside of Derrick Rose the past two seasons. Korver was instrumental in the Bulls' 2011 run to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Ridnour, on the other hand, is very much the traditional point guard, and very much in the same mold as Hinrich, as the Tribune notes. But that isn't the goal, of course. The goal is about 2014 and managing assets. The Bulls could clear cap space by amnestying Carlos Boozer, who they will either have to amnesty, trade, or waive at some point before the end of his contract. But the Bulls seem intent on keeping the power forward.
Either way this shakes out, it appears that the Bulls are angling to call 2013 a wash, already.