NBA Trade Rumors: Bulls Could Deal Deng, Noah

After the season Derrick Rose had two years ago, the Chicago Bulls seemed championship-ready.

The team's front office designed a team that would work well with the young All-Star to bring the franchise back to the glory days of Michael Jordan in the 1990s.

But after Rose suffered a major knee injury in the first round of the playoffs, it became clear that the team could not compete without their starting point guard.

The Bulls have recently been shopping a few of their players in hopes to bring in some young players to complement the healing Rose. The most recent rumors have the Bulls discussing trading away small forward Luol Deng and center Joakim Noah.

Chicago feels that the value of each of these players can satisfy the needs of teams who have two first-round picks in this year's draft.

Although these hypotheticals are still just rumors, Deng understands that this is a business and a trade is possible.

I believe there is always to some extent truth behind rumors, Deng said. But as an athlete, if you get caught up in them, you are really wasting your time because it's not something you can control.

If I was a GM I would be shopping players around too. I've got to show that I'm doing something.

Deng, who averaged 15.3 points a game last season, is considered to be the best fit for the Golden State Warriors, a team in desperate need of a big man who can shoot well beyond the three-point-arc.

If traded, the Bulls expect to at least get the seventh overall pick for Deng, which is more than reasonable at this point of his career.

Noah, who was plagued by injuries in the playoffs last season, is also on the trading block.

According to reports, Noah, along with Chicago's No. 29 pick, could be good trade bait for the Sacramento Kings' No. 5 pick and guard Tyreke Evans.

These latest Bulls trade rumors show that the team is looking to clear up some needed cap space in their budget. If any of these rumored trades pan out, the Bulls will be better off financially since they can sign their picks for the established rookie contract.

The Bulls, however, need to assess whether it's worth getting rid of all this talent to save a few bucks.