The Chicago Bulls can’t seem to figure it out. More specifically, the organization’s front office and, to an extent, it’s head coach, can’t seem to figure it out.
Maybe Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas and General Manager Marc Eversley are resting on the laurels of 2021-22. They put together the core of Lonzo Ball, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic, and that team started the season 28-12 before Ball went down with what would become a two and a half year knee injury.
Since then, however, it’s been a mountain of mediocrity in Chicago.
Two sub-.500 seasons and a pair of play-in tournament losses followed. Unsurprisingly, the Bulls are two games under .500 in 2025 and would finish, once again, with the No. 10 seed in the East and another spot in the play-in if the season ended today.
Somehow, in all that medium-ness, Chicago has had just one lottery pick, Matas Buzelis at No. 11 last summer. Should they finish outside of the top-10 in this year’s lottery (they’re on pace to do just that), their pick would transfer to San Antonio and the Bulls would lose another opportunity to land a potential young star.
What’s worse, according to recent reports, Karnisovas, Eversley and Head Coach Billy Donovan aren’t necessarily in a hurry to switch things up.
More of the same from the Chicago Bulls front office
Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune dropped a column on Jan. 11 that had some damning information on Karnisovas’ approach to this year’s trade deadline. After two seasons—now going on three—of sitting in the middle of the NBA pack heading toward February, it seems like Chicago is content to keep things the same:
“So far, silence is the status quo in Chicago. The Bulls have yet to engage in serious trade conversations for LaVine or Vučević. The front office is open to hearing offers for every player on the roster, per a league source, but even promising young players such as Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu aren’t drawing much attention on the trade market.”
Julia Poe, The Chicago Tribune
“Silence is the status quo.” “Yet to engage in serious trade conversations.”
These aren’t encouraging words for Bulls fans and are, frankly, incomprehensible. Why is Chicago willing to stay average?
Whether the lack of moves are by choice or because other teams aren’t willing to play ball is a fair question. LaVine and his contract are hard to move despite his stellar season. But a Vucevic trade should be relatively straightforward, even if the Bulls don’t get the return they want.
Ball and his $21.4 million expiring contract shouldn’t be impossible to deal, especially given the fact that he’s stayed healthy and has been productive. It’s worth wondering why White or Dosunmu aren’t drawing any interest, but there are still trades to be made and future assets to collect, not to mention losses to be racked up and a top-10 pick to hold onto.
If the Bulls once again stand pat at this year’s trade deadline, it’s time for Karnisovas, Eversley and Donovan to go. Not good enough to win but not bad enough to lose is exactly where you don’t want to be in today’s NBA. To this point, Chicago’s front office seems totally content sitting right there.
