Bye-bye Luol Deng.
We’ll miss you in Chicago.
Around 12:20 AM CST on January 7th, the Chicago Bulls announced that they sent the contract of Luol Deng to the Cleveland Cavaliers for multiple draft picks and the contract of Andrew Bynum.
“We have great respect for Luol Deng, as a player and a person. He has been an incredible contributor to our team on the court, and he has also done great things in the community,” said Chicago Bulls General Manager Gar Forman.
Wow, what’s with Chicago sports teams announcing big news around midnight this past year?
Good thing I’m a real night owl, otherwise I’d miss this stuff. Notre Dame announced that they kicked Everett Golson out of school at midnight on the Saturday before Memorial Day. The Chicago Blackhawks announced the firing (via CSN Chicago, a network they own) of their sideline reporter Susannah Collins at the witching hour as well.
In exchange for Luol Deng, the Cavs sent the Bulls a future draft pick via the Sacramento Kings (Sacramento’s conditional regular first round selection in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 otherwise, Sacramento’s 2017 regular second round pick if it falls between 31-55).
Cleveland also gave Chicago the Portland Trail Blazers’ 2015 and 2016 regular second round draft picks, which were held by the Cavs. In addition, if Cleveland is not in the NBA Draft Lottery in 2015, the Bulls have the right to switch regular first round selections with the Cavaliers.
Luol Deng, currently in his 10th season in the NBA, came to the Bulls in a Draft-night deal with the Phoenix Suns in 2004. In 637 (591 starts) regular season contests, he holds career averages of 16.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg and 2.5 apg in 35.9 mpg. Luol Deng rejected a 3 year, $30 million extension with Bulls last week, according to Yahoo.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the country; with regular weekly segments discussing: Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Bears and Bulls on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)