Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Joel Lorenzi: Coby White is the Bulls' most likely trade candidate

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote were joined by Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic to discuss the Bulls' mindset as the trade deadline looms Thursday.

Rahimi Harrison Grody, Midday's Tyndal 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 104-3, the score. Wiggins with an up and under a banker from 4-0, tipped in the air, loose ball. Bezellis runs out of the pack, left forecourt, double down on the ball, and they go up top to boot to Kobe. Kobe works on a double team on reverse. Got it, count it, foul, and he got hit hard bill, and he's being assisted up by Akuro and Bezellis. That's Chuck Swirsky and Bill Weddington on the call. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3 The Score. And we're getting a lot of text, and I think people are doing their own scientific experiments.

They're seeing which signal comes in better for them. For some, it's 670. For some, it's 104-3. And that's cool. That's why we're here. Tell us what you think. 312-644-67-67. In the meantime, we are waiting to see what is happening with the Bulls up until the NBA trade deadline on the 5th.

For that, we bring in our guest, Joelle Lorenzi. He is Joelle X Lorenzi on X. He is the Chicago-based staff writer for the athletic covering the NBA. You see a lot of his work surrounding the Bulls. And he joins us on the Circa Resort and Casino hotline, circle Las Vegas.com. Hi, Joelle. Thanks for joining us. So, guys.

Good to be here. We were speaking of being here. Funny that you mentioned it because we all started singing Deborah Cox. Nobody's supposed to be here talking about the trade deadline in our last. last segment. So I'll ask you. You know, the first question we asked on our 500 segment just now was who's the player that would surprise

you most that would still be here after the deadline passes. Cool. It's a funny question because I wouldn't be surprised if nobody is. Hey, hey, hey, hey, okay, let me answer. I still think of the

candidates that we all presume Kobe White is probably most likely. On one hand, I know he's a guy that likes Chicago, likes Billy Donovan. On the other hand, he's a guy who wants to be paid, who the bulls, we know them, to sort of sit on assets probably longer than they should. And now they kind of want to see what they can give him. And fit-wise, you know, like if Giddy is going to be a sort of centerpiece or cornerstone

or whatever they want to cook up, we've seen. Granted, he's had nagging calf issues this year, which is a variable in his value. You know, like this season, you know, they've almost kind of looked better when they stagger him and giddy at it is. Like, it's a confusing thing. And the player he is is kind of one where, you know, if they're in a back court together defensively, it's an issue. And they're almost like an unremarkable back court at that point relative to the rest of the East and the rest of the league. So Kobe is a guy who I think is most likely to be going at being. and said the days of probably getting a real first for him are gone.

You're probably looking at, if I had to imagine, like a couple good to medium seconds disguised as a first, like that sort of thing. And then maybe like a, you know, like matching salary. Obviously, like I know Minnesota's the team has been linked most to them. And I think hopeful fans who are like hopeful for something close to a rebuild want, like Yohan Barrenger, the young shot blocker, Minnesota just grabbed last year. and I don't think they'll get there.

I don't think Minnesota's with that. So you're kind of seeing the value of Kobe play out. But then again, like, these things change so fast. Like, I think everybody has such a standstill with Janice and now James Hardin's in a mix. Like, these are the kind of names that are going to plug up the drain or the deadline. And until people are comfortable with moving past them or those moves are actually made, so much of the value is going to be hard to gauge on a guy like Kobe White and some of the other domino effect. moves before the deadline. I mean, this thing could get done on the very last day and his

value could change with every day. Good thing that we are not holding our breasts as Joel Lorenzi joins us from the athletic covering the NBA, including the Chicago Bulls. Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but does it look like to you that Vooch is tired of being here number one? His lack of defense at all, the last time out tells me that he cannot wait to be traded and that Kobe is pressing because he's in the middle of a contract. year, and he's probably also looking at this as an audition type experience. Those are the two things that I've noticed over the last probably two weeks, if I'm keeping it a buck.

Sure. Well, let's address Voucher. I actually talked to him this morning at shoot-around. Okay, good. Perfect. He's a guy that you can tell wants to win. I mean, that's been apparent since he kind of spazzed on Jalen Smith after, what was that, a one-point win over the Wizards back in, like, November before that losing

strict to some lottery teams. Vouch was not necessarily happy them with the expectations of his team and sort of, you know, like it's besides him, it's a very youthful team and they're kind of stuck in the plan like he mentioned in Joe Callie the other night in Miami, which we talked about today, right? He's just a guy that wants to win that wants to make a playoff push. This team is not prepared to do that. And that's apparent to even him. I think he's even willing to admit that now. And so I think he's also at a point, though, because I think a lot of people would blame him. Like, he's the man in the middle.

One of their glaring issues has been rim protection. He's aware of that. He's aware of his weaknesses, and he's a guy who is vocal about being prepared to take a back seat to be in a bench roll with, you know, if that's his next team, you know, having his minutes dwindle being used for his strengths and spot minutes. Like, if that's, you know, I mean, the demand is like hardly there compared to maybe two years ago or whatever. But if it was like just throwing a team out there, this is a hypothetical. Don't aggregate this, y'all. If this is Golden State, you know, and let's say Draymond's still there, like maybe you put him next to a guy like that for five to ten minutes. I mean, not like he would play more than five minutes.

But you get what I'm saying. And a lineup like that where somebody can hide his weaknesses because he's very aware of these weaknesses. That being said, he's also a guy who feels like he still has juice. His strengths are still his strengths. I mean, he's going to stretch the floor. He can rebound. He's not, maybe he's not going to compete with a guy like clinging on the old boards. But like he's still a sufficient rebounder still can stretch the floor.

His strengths are still his strengths. But he's kind of, he's very acknowledging of the kind of stage he's in in his career. And he just wants to make this last part of his career meaning something. Aggregation has gotten all of us at some point in time, Joel. for better or for worse. I understand. Oh, yeah. No.

It's a machine. You can't escape the machine, Joel. They just leave out details as all, which pisses me off. What is nuance? You're right, yeah. You're 100% right. Good on you for having the disclaimer.

The Bulls are at Milwaukee tonight, so can't help but thinking about a gentleman by the name of Janice, attendacompo. And the fact that, other than staying with Milwaukee, according to a couple of websites, gambling sites, the Bulls are somehow the favorite to get Yannis if it's not Milwaukee. What do you think when you hear that?

What do you think about Yannis? Yeah, I think of an expletive that happens to have the franchise name in it. I love that. I just think it's incredible. One word. You can have me on an hour-long session another day about the rabbit hole of betting and sports and the row is play.

This whole thing started with some site called Kalshi, which all these betting sites have some like skin in the game in terms of influencing these odds and what it does for their site. I think a lot of what contributed to that first day was like two days ago when the Yannis stuff first started picking up odds was he was in Chicago at a church, I believe, in Chicago. He's also, he owns property in Chicago, which is like, whatever. These are very sick-old reasons to be connecting him to the Bulls. Sick-o.

I love it. The fact of the matter is the Bulls actually have a okay package to throw it at the bucks. Will they? I don't think so. What's that package look like? Yeah. I think ESPN had a good idea where it's like probably Giddy, probably, I don't know, like maybe no or something. I know another young player.

Or maybe just Giddy and Kobe and all these picks. They own so much of their picks, including Portland's pick this year, which is a lottery protected. So they have a decent package. Would it crippled them for the future? Absolutely. Like, there's so many layers to this. One of them being, I still think, I think this franchise is leaning more into the youthful framework of their team more than they were a couple years ago when they were like, you know, like, this team is bound for the plan. But they were really bound for the plan a couple years ago when they, like, passed on trading.

drumming at the deadline. I don't think they're in that mode anymore. I also don't think they're going on full rebuild. So these are things to consider when you're looking at a guy like Janus and the window he gives you and then what happens after the fact. I mean, what do you even left with when Janus is done with your town? I mean, Milwaukee's probably about to go through another 40-year drought before they even can consider getting a guy like that in town.

And while Chicago is a big market, they move more like a team like Milwaukee. than they do like the Lakers. So my final stance is that I don't think they're in play for Yannis, even if they do have like a decent package. And for what it's worth like, I don't think the magnitude of like dealing for a guy like Janus, that doesn't happen. We have two days until Thursday. Like while these talks have been had for days, that takes so much more than a week to me

to come up with the kind of package. I would be comfortable with if I'm Milwaukee and parting with your franchise guy who, again, you're going to go decades probably without a guy of that magnitude. That type of thing does not happen in days. I believe when you talk to people around the league, they seem to think that this is a thing that, you know, you're canvassing right now and it happens more likely in the summer. But then again, Golden State seems thirsty. You only get so much time with Steph.

they seem like the team, if I had the guess, is most inclined to do this before the deadline. But it doesn't seem likely. Joel Lorenzi, we appreciate you taking the time. Enjoy your work covering the Bulls and the rest of the NBA at the Athletic. If you want to check it out, Joel X Lorenzi on X, and he's also on the athletic covering the NBA. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. Appreciate the expletive talk.

I know. We got to check back in with him after the trade deadline, too, because I have a feeling He's got his hands on a lot of the understanding of what the value is going to be. And for people who don't know, his last job was at the Oklahoman covering a team that knows how to do this, Sam Presti's Oklahoma City Thunder. Look at their picks and what they have locked up ready to go whenever they do need something, and they don't need anything right now. Well, that's why I'm surprised he actually thinks the Bulls can offer a package that would make sense for Milwaukee.

To hear that from somebody is new. The dream is that they make enough deals between now and Thursday that they can make a run at Janus in the off season. But I just don't see it happen based on what he's saying and based on nothing. No first round picks are coming out of anywhere. Brody, we're going to get two pictures on the floor. One is going to be a yes and a no. And we're going to ask Dave, just like we will for the Super Bowl, if he thinks that Janus will be traded. This is a lot of pressure on Dave.

He's used to a very easy lifestyle. He's just going to sit on a piece of paper. Maybe Dave's just been talking to Luke Connellson. You know what he said yesterday. Oh, that's true. Lou said zero percent chance. And lose a guy who wants to give the benefit of the doubt to everybody and everything he does and he could not do it. Well, we got to get Joel back on because that was really good stuff.

So we will definitely do so. And in the meantime, word on the street is somebody we know got a job. Crazy. And the landing spot, too. Crazier. We'll do that next.