The Chicago Bulls are rumored to be offering up one of their two mid first-round picks in Thursday’s NBA draft for veteran swingman Arron Afflalo.
Yahoo! Sports reports the Bulls are high on the 28-year-old veteran who has two-years remaining on his deal in Orlando, though it is not known how their interest in him might be effected by the team’s ongoing interest in Knicks free agent forward Carmelo Anthony.
The Bulls are desperate to surround former league MVP Derrick Rose with a better supporting cast, not to mention better perimeter shooting, a quality both Anthony and Afflalo have demonstrated in spades.
Coming off his best NBA season, Afflalo averaged 18 points, four rebounds and three assists on 46 percent shooting in his sixth season. With the emergence of second-year player Victor Oladipo, more and more Afflalo has grown to be viewed as expendable in Orlando.
The Bulls own the No. 16 and No. 19 picks in next week’s draft, with at least one of those picks thought to be the highlight of any package they might offer up for Afflalo. The former UCLA star is set to make $7.5 million this upcoming season, a relative bargain for someone of his production.
Meanwhile, the Bulls have also displayed a strong interest in moving at least one of their picks in hopes it may add salary-cap relief in their pursuit of Anthony or any other top-tier free agent.
Anthony averaged 27 points and eight rebounds for the Knicks last season. The veteran forward has also attracted heavy interest in Houston, Dallas and more recently Miami, where talk of him perhaps joining up with the Big 3 of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh seems to grow by the day.
The Knicks finished 37-45 last season, forcing Anthony to miss the playoffs for the first time in his 11-year career.
