It’s the year 2025 and we’re still asking ourselves “what the heck are the Chicago Bulls doing?” Another trade deadline has passed, and while the Bulls did have some shakeups to the roster, it still feels largely the same as the team still refuses to fully commit to anything.
Their big move at the deadline was trading Zach LaVine to the Sacramento Kings for Kevin Huerter, Zach Collins, Tre Jones and the protections off their own 2025 first-round pick. It was a lackluster return for a player who was having a genuinely great year, and someone who the team had been shopping since last season’s deadline.
The return was mediocre, but at least it was something, after doing absolutely nothing at last season’s deadline. But Nikola Vucevic is still on the team, the Bulls confusingly signed Lonzo Ball to a two-year, $20 million contract and now enter the final 30 games of the season with a logjam in the backcourt, several of whom would’ve netted quality assets *cough, cough* Coby White.
It’s obviously not a roster good enough to do anything of importance in the East, and at this point the Bulls have already won far too many games (they’re 22-30 entering Thursday night) to earn a ticket to the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes. Even still, though, it’s a roster likely too good to land a top-five pick, a dumfounding reality for a team that is headed nowhere in the next several years without a surefire star on the roster. It’s a half measure, one that Bulls general manager Arturas Karnisovas seems satisfied with as the final stretch of the season approaches.
“If in the next 30 games we’re going to be out of the play-in and playoffs, we’ll get a good pick,” Karnisovas said. “But at the same time, if this young team can make the play-in, it’s going to be an accomplishment.”
Karnisovas is basically saying they’re still going for the Play-In Tournament, and now that they have the top-10 protections off that 2025 pick that the Spurs were likely salivating at, they get to have their cake and eat it too. Nevermind the fact that they could’ve stockpiled more assets if they had moved Vucevic, or a couple of the several guards now occupying space on the roster like White, Josh Giddey, Jevon Carter and Dalen Terry.
It’s truly mind-boggling that the Bulls, who exist in the third-largest market in the country, and have such a storied history, are just fine with being mediocre. In his defense, Karnisovas said at Media Day that “changes needed to be made,” and while moving off LaVine — probably two years too late — is a needed change, it’s not happening at a fast enough pace in a league where you can very quickly get left behind. This was the year that the Bulls needed to bottom out and tank for a chance at that top pick, or even a top-three pick.
Next year’s class, which is expected to be headlined by AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson, should also be strong, but the Bulls have been dragging their feet for the last several years to arrive at a conclusion that most people figured out years ago. Since that lone season where they sat atop the East standings heading into All-Star break, this team has not been good enough to warrant all the money and time invested in them. They moved DeMar DeRozan too late, didn’t get a single first-round pick for Alex Caruso, signed LaVine to an enormous deal, took too long to move off him and are still holding onto too many pieces with a pivotal summer approaching.
Karnisovas opened his press conference on Thursday by saying in part, “These [trade deadline] moves help us to be more in control of our future. I know fans want a specific plan, and we’re charting that path now. We’re not done yet. We’re in a transitional phase and there’s more to come.”
That’s at least a sliver of hope that more broad, sweeping changes will happen this summer, like moving Vucevic and others. For what it’s worth, the Bulls did try to move Vucevic, reportedly to the Warriors, but the two teams couldn’t come to an agreement on a framework.
But Karnisovas also spent a portion of his opening statement talking about the importance of the next 30 games and how getting to the play-in and playoffs is “achievable” and how this group of guys are “capable of getting there.”
It’s confusing because the Bulls don’t have a franchise centerpiece, and losing as many games as possible over the rest of the season is quite literally the only way to ensure they can have a better shot at drafting one. Even if that was the plan, it’s far too late to execute when seven other teams have far worse records than Chicago. We’ve obviously seen superstars fall to the middle of the draft lottery and even into the late fist round and second round, but the Bulls haven’t had a great track record of drafting talent since Karnisovas has been in charge.
It also doesn’t sound like building a team around a superstar, or potentially two — whether through the draft or otherwise — is Karnisovas’ plan.
“In terms of moving forward there’s different structures that you can try to get to a championship,” Karnisovas said. “There’s a 2-3 star players and a lot of role players. Or you can build it as a 9-10 very good players, I think now we’re leaning towards a lot of solid, good players that can last through the season. I think more and more teams are doing that.”
You’d be hard pressed to find a single championship team in the last 25 years that didn’t have a bonafide superstar on it. Maybe the 2004 Detroit Pistons are the outlier, but no one in today’s NBA is looking at the Detroit team and saying “hmm, yes that’s the model for success.” This league deals in star power, and if you lack it, you’re actively trying to get it. Apparently, unless you’re the Chicago Bulls.
Maybe this is all PR speak from Karnisovas and the Bulls, because you obviously can’t get in front of the microphone and say your goal is to tank and hope you land the No. 1 pick. But the Bulls entered the season with misguided playoff aspirations, and have done so over the past several years when the best obvious route was to tank. However, if that’s the plan, it’s going to be difficult to believe this franchise wants to bottom out when history suggests otherwise.
