On the night of the 2017 NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls decided that they wanted to blow up the organization (not literally, but they wanted to tear down the old regime and create something new). The biggest move in announcing their rebuild bid was trading Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The previous season, Butler was one of the best players in the NBA, averaging 24 points per game and being voted to an All-Star. Butler is a consensus top 20 player in the league, so you would assume that the Bulls would demand quite the ransom for him. In the end, the Bulls landed two young prospects, and swapped draft picks with the Timberwolves.

One year removed from this trade, let's see how the Bulls and Wolves are fairing with their new additions.

Let's start off by looking at the Bulls. In exchange for Jimmy Butler, the Bulls received two players from the Timberwolves, those players being point guard Kris Dunn and shooting guard Zach LaVine. How have these players performed? Well, about as well as you'd expect. Dunn played so badly for Minnesota last year that the player he was meant to replace ended up solidifying his starting spot on the team. When he got to Chicago, he ended up playing well compared to the year previous, but not great. Dunn is averaging 13 points and 6 assists this year while shooting at a 42% rate, which is all slightly below average stats for a player at his position.

The other player we acquired was Zach LaVine. LaVine's season was cut short last year with an ACL tear, and there were questions as to whether he would ever return to the form he was in before. LaVine has returned to the game and has not been as productive as he was before the injury, averaging 16 points on 38% shooting. However, it's still early, and he could very well return to his pre-injury form next season.

Transitioning to Minnesota, Butler has picked up where he left off with the Bulls. So far this year, he has averaged 22 points per game on 47% shooting on a team where he doesn't have to be as productive. This is because the Wolves are much more talented than the Bulls, and Butler is seen as the missing piece for a Minnesota team that could make some noise in the playoffs this year.

Minnesota also swapped draft picks with Chicago, with rookie forward Lauri Markkanen going to the Bulls, and Justin Patton going to the Timberwolves. While Patton has the luxury of developing his game in the G-League (the NBA's minor league), Markkanen has had to play due to the lack of talent, and he's played rather well, averaging 15 points and 7 rebounds on 43% shooting.

Overall, the Timberwolves have been large beneficiaries of this trade, playing very well and drastically improving their win total from last year. The Bulls, however, are banking on their new guys developing into very good players, as all they really have now is potential, and nothing more. Only time will tell whether this trade will pay off for them, and I really hope it does, because I don't want to switch the team I root for anytime soon.