QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Trade Luol Deng?

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Trade Luol Deng? 

By: Muntradamus

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Joe Asks-

“How do I negotiate a 2 for 1 trade to get the other guy to take on a player who is injured?”

This is a fantastic opportunity to talk about Luol Deng and his trade value.  We are going to look at the perspectives of an owner who wants to get rid of him, or an owner that wants to acquire him in a trade.

But first let’s talk about Luol Deng:

In my eyes Luol Deng has always been an overrated fantasy player.  Every now and then he will break out for a huge game, but we mostly expect anywhere from 15-18 PPG with some solid rebound numbers, and maybe a steal or a block.

The truth is the Bulls were very disorganized offensively last season.  Carlos Boozer was not playing his game, and Joakim Noah was either hurt or inconsistent.

This season the Bulls added Rip Hamilton to be another proven scorer on the squad, and Carlos Boozer finally looks like the offensive player the Bulls wanted.  Since Luol Deng has been injured, Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver have been excelling in his role.  Korver is knocking down 3PTM at will.  Ronnie Brewer is playing great defense and is creating a lot of plays for others on the team.

So when Luol Deng comes back, which could be the Bulls next game or it could be next season.  His role as the #2 scorer on that offense is not going to be existent anymore.  In fact his minutes could be affected if he has bad games.  IF he does have a breakout game in the near future the time would be great to sell high on him.

But what if you want to trade him now?  Or what if you want to acquire him now before he has the chance to step out on the court?

If you want to get rid of Luol Deng you can give him away while receiving some value.

This is how I see it:

If you are trying to trade John Wall for a 1^st round pick such as Chris Paul.  John Wall has 2^nd/3^rd round value.  Adding a player like Luol Deng,  (who could be absolutely worthless for the rest of the season) to a stud like John Wall automatically upgrades you to receiving a 1^st round pick.

The owner with CP3 will look at this trade, and see that they get a comparable PG with a little less value, but potentially an impact forward.  A win-win for both teams, but most likely the team that gave up Luol Deng wins in the trade.

If you are trying to acquire Luol Deng, hoping that his wrist injury is fine.  Then you can offer a star PG such as Deron Williams for Tyreke Evans, but also get Luol Deng for free in the trade.

In conclusion:

Trading an injured player who should come back, but is questionable, allows you to upgrade a position for a position player (Ex: Chris Paul for John Wall) and then the team that gave away the worse of the two, which would be John Wall in this situation, also gives a quality stud like Luol Deng who has 5^th/6^th round value.

When negotiating 2-1 trade, look at it as trading away a 2^nd tier player and a solid player, for a superstar.  More likely than not, the team that acquires the star player is the team that comes out on top.  You cannot teach consistency.

And Yes…I would trade away Luol Deng ASAP.

If you have any questions about fantasy trades or anything fantasy basketball feel free to ask.