Report: Bulls interested in trading for 76ers' Okafor

The Bulls are looking to shake things up in their frontcourt, with a Chicago native reportedly being the apple of their eye as the Feb. 23 trade deadline slowly approaches.

The team has inquired about the availability of Philadelphia 76ers center Jahlil Okafor in a potential deal, sources told CSN Chicago's Vincent Goodwill.

There's reportedly more interest on Chicago's part than the Sixers, but that's not stopping the franchise from making a strong push to get something done.

The 21-year-old Duke product is a victim of circumstance in the City of Brotherly Love, as there aren't enough minutes to go around with Joel Embiid being Philadelphia's top priority this season, and Nerlens Noel seeing an uptick in playing time under head coach Brett Brown.

Okafor isn't defensively inclined, which makes him somewhat of a liability, despite being quite potent on offense. His numbers have dipped to 11.5 points and 4.7 rebounds on 52 percent shooting, but that can be attributed to him averaging seven fewer minutes per game.

Chicago is devoid of a big man it can throw the ball down to in the post, especially with Nikola Mirotic being as unreliable as he's been shooting the rock. Robin Lopez and Taj Gibson are big bodies who can bang around the rim for rebounds (Chicago ranks first overall in boards with 47.1 per game) and blocks, but neither has the soft touch Okafor does.

Sixers general manager Bryan Colangelo said prior to the start of the season that, in an ideal world, he'd take one of his three bigs and ship them off to improve depth in other areas, although he wouldn't make a trade just for the sake of making one.

Okafor is still working under a rookie-scale contract, with a team option of $6.3 million in 2018-19.