If the increased interest in Zach LaVine was not obvious already, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst practically confirmed it on Friday morning.

Joining Mike Greenberg on “Get Up,” the long-time NBA Insider spoke about the current state of the NBA trade market. While he didn’t go into much detail, Windhorst did suggest that the Chicago Bulls guard has come up more and more in conversations around the league ahead of the NBA’s Feb. 6 trade deadline.

“Brandon Ingram is a guy who has been on the trade block for months. But with these last few days, and addition to Zach LaVine … I am seeing a bit of warm-up out there in some talks involving these two players,” Windhorst said.

Windhorst’s words come in the wake of a pretty significant report from The Athletic this week. After being connected repeatedly to big man Nikola Vucevic, rumors are now swirling that Zach LaVine could emerge as the team’s preferred target.

Interest Continues to Grow for Zach LaVine?

Nevertheless, this comment from Windhorst is a further indication that the phones are starting to ring in the Bulls’ front office. There had long been concerns that genuine interest in either Nikola Vucevic or Zach LaVine would fail to materialize, leading to a fourth-straight quiet deadline in Chicago. While we still can’t rule out that possibility, the more we hear reports like this the better.

I’m not going to go as far as to say the Bulls are in the driver’s seat, but the fact they are initiating fewer calls could eventually lead to some leverage. A bidding war this time of year is always the goal, and perhaps Karnisovas can create exactly that as more teams “warm up.”

For what it’s worth, we at least know of three teams that have been linked to LaVine over the last week or so. The Warriors were the most recent, but the Milwaukee Bucks have been mentioned as a possible suitor in recent weeks, as have the Phoenix Suns if a deal fails to get done for Miami Heat superstar Jimmy Butler. But does the list end there?

Windhorst mentions the Atlanta Hawks as a new team that could try to make some noise with wing Jalen Johnson recently ruled out for the season with injury. Considering their first-round selection belongs to the San Antonio Spurs, they have zero reason to enter tank mode. To be clear, Windhorst did not tie LaVine directly to Atlanta but did suggest that Brandon Ingram could be on their radar.

Regardless, this is yet another reminder that A LOT can change in the days leading up to the deadline. It wasn’t long ago that we were talking about Zach LaVine as a distressed asset with zero market. Now, the idea of adding someone who is scoring 24.0 points per game on 50.0+ percent shooting from the field doesn’t look so bad, huh?