BOSTON — After six years of the same old, same old, there isn’t much anxiety this time of the season.
Bulls guard Coby White is numb to it all.
So when he was pressed about another February trade deadline approaching and his team churning through the rumor mill again, it was basically a shrug of the shoulders.
“We get to play basketball every day, and it’s a blessing to be here, so I wouldn’t say anxious,” White said Wednesday. “This is my sixth year here, and I’m pretty sure every single year I’ve been here, this has been the case, whether it was anybody [in the rumors], myself included. I think once you get those years in, you just learn it’s out of your control. Whatever happens, you’ve just gotta let it play out and deal with the cards you’re dealt.”
Besides, White had more pressing concerns: facing the Celtics, who were looking to exact some revenge for an upset the Bulls pulled off the last time they visited Boston in December. And to make things even more difficult, the Bulls were without their leading scorer, Zach LaVine.
It was a recipe for disaster, and it played out that way. The Celtics beat the Bulls 122-100.
Coach Billy Donovan didn’t have to look far to see what went wrong for his Bulls (20-28) in the rematch. They allowed 27 points off 15 turnovers, with 20 of those points coming in the first half.
“They capitalized on the turnovers,” Donovan said. “They turned them into points, and then obviously the other part was the fouling.”
The Celtics went to the free-throw line 27 times to the Bulls’ 12.
White, who had 16 points to tie for the team lead in scoring with Patrick Williams, really didn’t want to dwell on trade talk and rumors.
“You can’t control what moves they make,” White said. “There’s a lot of stuff going around for the league in general, so it is what it is. I take it with a grain of salt. We’re trying to win games, so that’s what we’re focused on.”
The trade deadline is Feb. 6, and the Bulls, like most teams, are still waiting to see what happens with Jimmy Butler and the Heat. If Butler is moved, that could be the first domino to fall, and it could even be a multiteam deal that the Bulls might try to get involved in, a source said.
To add more intrigue to the trade drama, Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox also could be on the move as Sacramento tries to salvage its disappointing season.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported this week that Bulls executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas is open for business. He’s looking to dump cargo and finally pick a course for the team. LaVine, Nikola Vucevic and Lonzo Ball are the obvious trade candidates, but don’t rule out White being on the move or even Torrey Craig.
Whatever happens, Donovan admitted that this has been a unique deadline year, just from the standpoint of the cold war going on in Miami with Butler and now Fox being shopped.
“It certainly feels like there have been players around this time that have made statements or made it clear that they are not going to be returning and, ‘I need to be moved,’ ’’ Donovan said. “I don’t know if it’s just a one-off year, but certainly it’s been out there publicly, which has been a little bit different.”