Derrick Rose has been playing much better basketball of late.

"I just feel like I'm back," Rose said.

"I'm just out there playing. Whatever I can do to get my team a victory, that's what I'm going to try to do. When I'm out there, they're giving me midrange [shots], they're giving me drives to the lane. Just mixing up my game and trying to play a solid game while I'm out there."

Rose struggled to start the season coming back from a fractured orbital bone.

Rose has averaged 19.2 points per game since the start of 2016.

"That's obviously a huge thing in this league with players, is playing with confidence," Fred Hoiberg said. "And Derrick is playing with a high level of confidence right now. You can tell. The shots he was hitting at the end of the game the other night, he didn't hesitate at all. He was getting that thing down the floor quickly and taking what the defense gave him. Again, that rhythm and confidence is such an important thing and Derrick has that."

Rose's PER by month:
November: 10.3
December: 10.7
January: 16.0
February: 20.5

Kobe Bryant had the opportunity to join the Chicago Bulls in 2004 as a free agent and again was linked to them in 2007 when he seeking a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers.

Bryant said he "very much" thought he had a chance of joining the Bulls in 2004.

"My wife and I were actually planning travel arrangements to come out to Chicago and look at some homes and schools and things like that," Bryant said. "Then once [Shaquille O'Neal] demanded a trade, it was like, 'There's no way they're going to trade me anywhere.' The sign-and-trade option just pretty much went off the table. "

Bryant later added: "So if I was fortunate enough to come here, if that trade had happened and I'd be here, it's not a pressure situation to live up to what he's done. It's more, can I carry on this man's legacy? Can I do it justice? Can I represent Chicago the way that it should be represented in his honor? Just a tremendous, tremendous amount of influence."

The Lakers and Bulls agreed to the framework of a trade in 2007 but Bryant exercised his no trade clause because Chicago was giving up Luol Deng.

The Los Angeles Clippers discussed a trade of CJ Wilcox in multiple scenarios.

The Clippers held talks with the Orlando Magic on Wilcox by offering Shabazz Napier.

The Clippers also discussed a Wilcox for Tony Snell deal that would have also cost Doc Rivers a second round pick.

“I think he can shoot. I think he can play. He has a lot of guys in front of him,” Rivers said, “… but, I still think he can really play. He’s a great kid, a high-character kid. He works hard at it.

“And I think that’s a kid that you hang on to.”

The Chicago Bulls decided not to trade away Pau Gasol at the deadline.

Gasol knew there was a chance that he may be traded to the Sacramento Kings, as had been speculated for days, but a deal never materialized.

Gasol is likely to elect for free agency in the offseason.

"We see him as a big piece of what we're doing today and in the future," Gar Forman told ESPN.com in a telephone interview.

"If they didn't trade me, the assumption is that they would like to keep me, right?" Gasol said. "Otherwise they would have traded me and get some value in return. So I assume that that's their mindset, and that's good to know. That's just something that you like to hear and you like to know."

"We value Pau," Forman said. "And Pau wasn't shopped. We see him as part of our core."

The Chicago Bulls have traded Kirk Hinrich to the Atlanta Hawks for a second round pick.

Hinrich previously played with the Hawks for one season before returning to the Bulls.

The Chicago Bulls and Orlando Magic are in talks on a Shabazz Napier trade.

The Magic acquired Napier from the Miami Heat last year.

The Sacramento Kings and Chicago Bulls have held discussions centered on a trade involving Pau Gasol.

In the discussed scenario, the Kings would acquire Gasol and Tony Snell from the Bulls for Kosta Koufos, Ben McLemore and the lowering of lottery protections on a pick owed by Sacramento to Chicago.

The lowering of protections would increase the odds of the pick being conveyed to the Bulls.

The pick owed to the Bulls began in 2011 with the Kings' trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers when they acquired J.J. Hickson for Omri Casspi and a future first rounder. The pick was then dealt to the Chicago Bulls in 2014 for Luol Deng.

The Kings have reached out to the Philadelphia 76ers because they have the right to swap picks with the Kings on the 2016 selection. The 76ers were preparing to ask for a sweetener to allow the Kings to move on a trade with the Bulls because of the pick swap.

Pau Gasol has interest in signing a contract extension with the Chicago Bulls in the offseason and has resisted the idea of a trade.

Gasol is expected to decline his $7.4 million contract option for the 16-17 season.

Gar Forman has been discussing trades on several fronts involving Gasol, but somes teams worry about his love for Chicago that could cloud his motivation in fully committing to a short-term stay.

Gasol was an All-Star replacement this season.

Pau Gasol is being aggressively shopped by the Chicago Bulls ahead of the deadline.

Gasol is expected to decline the player option on the $7.4 million owed him in 2016-17.

Gar Forman appears determined to trade Gasol with the hope of bringing value back.

Jimmy Butler will miss the next three to four weeks with a strained left knee.

Butler has begun rehabbing his injury and he will be allowed to engage in all activities as tolerated with the primary goal of maintaining his conditioning over the ensuing weeks.   

Butler originally suffered the injury last Friday.