How the Bulls missed their chance to become an NBA dynasty.
The summer of 2010 was amazing for NBA fans. That year, we got to watch LeBron James make the biggest move in modern basketball history by joining forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat. But did you know that it was almost another Eastern team that landed the three superstars that summer?
According to sources with knowledge of the situation, the Chicago Bulls nearly pulled off pairing the bug three together before Luol Deng crushed their hopes and dreams.
“If the Bulls were able to trade Luol Deng to the Clippers, which they had talks about doing, that Big 3 would’ve been in Chicago. Trust me on that one,” wrote Bulls insider K.C. Johnson.
At the time, Luol Deng was actually a very solid two-way wing player for the Bulls. During his time in Chicago with Jimmy Butler, Derrick Rose, and Joakim Noah (among others), he helped them punch a ticket to the postseason and it earned him a $72 million deal from the Lakers when he hit free agency in 2016.
Apparently, Deng is also responsible for preventing the Bulls from building the greatest superteam in modern NBA history. While talks were ongoing between the Bulls and Clippers that year, a trade was never agreed, and the Bulls lacked the salary to bring in all three players.
To this day, that missed opportunity stands as one of the biggest “what-ifs” in NBA history. Together, there’s no telling what a Bulls team with Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Joakim Noah could have accomplished.
Interestingly, it wasn’t just because of Deng that the scenario never happened. As Wade would go on to explain years later, there were questions about how he, LeBron, and Rose could have played with one ball.
LeBron And Wade Were Uncertain About Their Fit With Rose
Derrick Rose was a bonafide superstar back in 2010, and there’s no doubt that he was Chicago’s best player at the time. On the surface, teaming up with the youngest MVP ever sounds like a dream, but there were some concerns about
“It was like, ‘Me, you, and D-Rose? That’s a lot. Just one ball, we all need it,” said Wade in a 2019 episode of the Knuckleheads podcast. “That maybe too much. But listen, we thought about it. When it came down to it, Miami was the only team with enough money to get all three of us. When it came down to it, we thought CB was the perfect match. And ultimately, bro, I just wanted to win.”
As two ball-dominant players, it was probably the right decision to pick Bosh and the Heat over Rose and the Bulls, but it’s hard not to wonder and think how different things would be today had they made a different decision all those years ago.
Nevertheless, things worked out for the best in Miami, and LeBron, Wade, and Bosh actually beat Rose and his Chicago Bulls several times en route to their title victories in 2012 and 2013.
