REPORT: Bulls Having Change of Heart on Trading Former UCLA Star?

The Chicago Bulls may not be trading former UCLA star Lonzo Ball ahead of the NBA trade deadline after all.

Feb 2, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball (2) passes in the first half against the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

For the past couple of weeks, it was looking like Lonzo Ball was done with the Chicago Bulls.

A trade made perfect sense. After all, Ball is in the final year of his deal and has been a massive disappointment for the Bulls after signing a four-year, $80-million contract with the team back during the summer of 2021.

The former UCLA Bruins star played in just 37 games in Year 1 of the deal and then proceeded to miss the next couple of seasons due to persistent knee injuries.

Ball has returned to the floor during the 2024-25 campaign and has shown some flashes of rediscovering his old form, but with Chicago having already jettisoned Zach LaVine (another UCLA product), it only seemed right for the Bulls to trade Ball ahead of the Feb. 6 deadline, as well.

But it appears that Chicago is having a sudden change of heart.

In a rather strange turn of events, NBA insider Marc Stein reported on Tuesday that the Bulls "have not been eager" to trade Ball and that they wouldn't want to buy him out if he remains on the roster past the deadline.

On top of that, Stein adds that Chicago is apparently even open to re-signing the 27-year-old.

The Bulls, I'm told, have even shown some interest in re-signing Lonzo Ball once his current contract expires. Ball is playing this season on an expiring $21.4 million deal.

More from @JakeLFischer and me: https://t.co/f3fN5f8kiU https://t.co/7vfbeTES0F

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) February 4, 2025

This is a shocking twist, to say the least.

In 29 games this season, Ball is averaging 7.2 points, 3.5 assists and 3.4 rebounds over 21.6 minutes per game on 36.2/34.0/85.7 shooting splits.

Obviously, the shooting percentages are a bit ugly, but keep in mind that Ball is still making his way back after literally missing two years of basketball.

Amazingly enough, he has actually been playing very solid defense and has definitely been helping the Bulls in plenty of other ways.

The Bruins legend was apparently drawing considerable interest from other NBA teams in the lead-up to the trade deadline, but it seems that Chicago will be content holding onto him.

Of course, that could also be a bluff on the part of the Bulls in an attempt to drive up his trade value, but if Ball remains in the Windy City past this Thursday, maybe he really will stay with the team long-term.

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