It’s easy to see why Denzel Valentine doesn’t really play all that much. Coby White came in and immediately took for himself whatever Valentine’s role would have been on the Bulls going into the season. Then there’s Zach LaVine who’s going to eat up a ton of minutes as well. Otto Porter, now that he’s back, takes up some SF minutes that possibly could have gone to Valentine. Simply put, there’s a million and one other players on the Bulls at the positions that Valentine could feasibly play, and he’s behind all of them in the pecking order.
Valentine’s also 26 years old, which makes him unattractive as a development prospect. This is only his third year in the league, but he’s practically a veteran. A veteran who doesn’t shoot that well from the field and, as far as I know, doesn’t do much else on the court (if he’s a defender, somebody needs to let me know so I can ignore it and continue to assert that he does nothing on the court). This is maybe the one Egg Man rotation decision that I can deduce the logic behind. The rest of them are, like, spit out of a random number generator or something, but Valentine’s lack of minutes is understandable.
Adam Silver has assured me in the past that the trade deadline is only a suggestion, and that teams can still make trades after the deadline if there is a demonstrable need for the trade to happen. Along those lines, I think the Bulls could easily trade Denzel Valentine to the Bucks for Thon Maker. The Bulls get a three-point-shooting big to hold down the fort while Lauri Markkanen recovers, and the Bucks get somebody who can’t possibly be worse than Wes Matthews. Can he?
Keep in mind that I have already verified that Thon Maker is still on the Bucks, and, therefore, there is no reason for anybody else involved in the trade to attempt to verify it.