De’Andre Hunter to Sacramento, Keon Ellis to Cleveland, Dario Šarić to Chicago
1 of 3
Chicago Bulls Receive: Dario Šarić, 2027 second-round pick (from Denver, via Cleveland), 2029 second-round pick (least favorable of Detroit, Milwaukee and New York, via Sacramento)
Cleveland Cavaliers Receive: Keon Ellis, Dennis Schröder
Sacramento Kings Receive: De’Andre Hunter
Your eyes do not deceive you. The Bulls—yes, the Bulls—are taking on money in exchange for draft picks.
It doesn’t matter how juicy the seconds will be. Not really. Taking Šarić into what remains of the Zach LaVine exception—and waiving Jevon Carter to make room for him—is a level of asset accumulation the notoriously shortsighted Chicago front office seldom shows.
Don’t sleep on the Bulls moving forward. It has tons of expiring contracts, as well as $8 million-plus under the tax.
Cleveland Cavaliers: B+
Trading wings for guards is never the cleanest idea, but the Cavs are making out pretty well here. Hunter’s defensive reputation has never lived up to his 6’7″ frame. It’s also tough to call him plug-and-play on offense when he likes to take shots Cleveland doesn’t need and isn’t making the ones it does.
Make no mistake, the Cavs are doing this for the financial savings. They shave , something team governor Dan Gilbert will be thrilled with.
Ellis doesn’t match Hunter’s size, but he can capably pester 1s, 2s and some 3s. He’s due for a raise after this season and could wind up being a rental. The opportunity cost is low enough for that to be OK. Both he and Jaylon Tyson are more viable three-and-D options at this point than Hunter.
Schröder’s paint pressure can help secondary units and arms the Cavs with a ball-handling alternative to Craig Porter Jr. and the wildly disappointing Lonzo Ball. Catch him on the right night, and he’ll offer plenty of point-of-attack resistance.
Going from Hunter’s $24.9 million next season to Schröder’s $14.8 million positions Cleveland to skirt the second apron next year. It is now inside $14 million of sidestepping the second apron this if it wants to try making a bigger deal. Accomplishing that while deepening the rotation at the expense of a low-end second-round pick is a job well done.
It turns out having a trillion guards and minimal wings isn’t a smart way to build an NBA team. Who knew?!
Hunter is having a down year but fills a positional need. He is more expensive than Schröder next season, but lopping off the latter’s partial guarantee in 2027-28 maximizes the Kings’ cap-space potential. Though they’re now a tax team next year, there’s no way that stands.
Forking over assets when you’re arguably giving up the two best players is uninspiring. Then again, the second-round pick doesn’t have much upside.
Losing Ellis is most painful. Sacramento could have probably fetched more if it moved him over the summer or at last year’s deadline. By now, though, he wasn’t going to net more second-round equity, and the Kings certainly weren’t going to re-sign him. Choosing to get off Schröder and decongesting the guard glut over bagging, say, two seconds is a reasonable call to make.
And yet, we can’t let the Kings off the hook. This is the culmination of a series of recently terrible decisions: not declining Ellis’ team option to make him a restricted free agent; flipping Jonas Valančiūnas for Šarić to jimmy up more flexibility; and then using that flexibility on a deal for Schröder that’s aged about as well as last year’s midseason play‑in hopes.
