John Paxson: 'Tom Thibodeau unhappy with Luol Deng trade'

Chicago Bulls vice-president John Paxson has said that the team cannot expect Tom Thibodeau to be happy at losing Luol Deng in a trade.

The two-time All-Star joined the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier this week in exchange for center Andrew Bynum - who has since been waived - and a string of Draft picks.

Paxson told ESPN: "Look, it's not realistic to ask [coach] Tom [Thibodeau] or his staff to be happy about taking a player of Lu's caliber off your team.

"[General manager] Gar [Forman] and I put ourselves in Tom's shoes a lot. Every day, really. And we know what he's facing. We're not sitting up here saying be happy about it. It's hard. It's difficult.

"He wants to win the games. We all want to win the games. And this makes it more challenging, and we know that. But we have great faith in his ability and we also have great faith in the fact that this gives us the best opportunity going forward to create a deeper roster. One that will give us a better chance to win going forward."

Deng did not play in last night's 111-93 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.