Why the Chicago Bulls knew they had to pivot

AT THE HEAD of a row of cubicles are the offices of Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley, the Chicago Bulls vice president of basketball operations and general manager, respectively, which overlook the basketball courts below. Each office features a sliding glass door that opens up to an indoor balcony from which they can watch and observe the team they have constructed.

Inside those offices on the heels of yet another disappointing season, Karnisovas began soliciting ideas from other members of the front office, coaches and players on how to execute a new vision. The mandate was clear: Keeping this roster intact once again was untenable.

For the second consecutive season, the Bulls had been eliminated on the road by the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament, missing the playoffs for the sixth time in the past seven years and the third time in Karnisovas’ four-year tenure. In a news conference the day after the season-ending loss, Karnisovas declared he took “full responsibility.” He said he recognized changes needed to be made and that the time was now.

The challenge this summer inside the offices on the top floor of the Advocate Center, the Chicago Bulls’ practice facility sitting across the street from the United Center, was to figure out what that looked like.

“We need to have a summer like 2021,” Karnisovas told members of his front office staff, sources told ESPN, referencing his first full offseason after taking control of the team, when he turned over nearly the entire roster he inherited.

Karnisovas and Eversley had a vision then for a roster centered around three skilled offensive players and former All-Stars: DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, fueled by Lonzo Ball running the team as point guard. But aside from a stretch that saw them leading the Eastern Conference at the All-Star break in Feb. 2022, the Bulls have hovered around .500 since while making few changes to the roster.

Chicago was the only team in the NBA not to make a trade at the deadline in any of the past three seasons, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information, and entering the offseason, the last time the team made a trade involving a player came in August 2021.

Until, finally, the Bulls made moves this summer. They let their best offensive player (DeRozan) find another home in free agency, traded away their best defensive player (Alex Caruso) and allowed their backup center (Andre Drummond) to walk, replacing each player in their 30s with someone in their 20s: Josh Giddey, the prize in exchange for Caruso, Matas Buzelis, the No.11 pick in the 2024 draft and Jalen Smith, a versatile 24-year old backup center.

Combine those new additions with Coby White — who finished second in the voting for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award — Patrick Williams and Ayo Dosunmu, two of this regime’s most promising draft picks, and the Bulls have created a semblance of a young core.

“We’ve gone young,” Eversley told ESPN earlier this month. “We’ve got players who are experienced and give us a greater opportunity to have a longer runway for sustainability to winning meaningful games for a longer time.”

But for as much young talent as the Bulls added, they didn’t turn over their roster completely. LaVine remains on the team despite rapid trade speculation following his name for months. Vucevic will turn 34 near the start of next season and will be trying to bounce back from a down year. And Ball, after missing more than two full seasons, has been making progress toward a potential comeback next season.

Karnisovas delivered on his promise to make changes in Chicago, but stopped short of a full rebuild. He’s left trying to merge his young core with a disgruntled star in a stacked Eastern Conference.

“The difference is we’re much younger,” Eversley said. “Not that it’s not about Zach or [Vucevic] anymore, but we’re giving these young guys an opportunity to see how much they can grow.

“We’re not so focused on being a top-six seed or being in the play-in. We’re focusing on developing this group every single day and see how much better they can get over the next year.”

FOR THE FIRST time in nearly 40 years, the Bulls held training camp outside of Chicago.

The Bulls had missed the playoffs the previous season, but management wanted to show players it still believed in the roster and was urged by DeRozan to “get outside the house and do something adventurous.” So they gathered for training camp on the campus of Belmont University in Nashville.

The players played Top Golf together, took a tour of the Tennessee Titans facility, and hosted team dinners after spending their practice time installing an offense they hoped would be more free-flowing and fast.

They were looking to recapture the magic they’d found for half a season in 2021-22. That’s when they charged into the All-Star break tied for the best record in the Eastern Conference at 38-21 with DeRozan and LaVine as All-Stars, and Ball as a playmaker who made everything go. Ball had already been ruled out for last season, but the Bulls were going to try and replicate his impact.

“We felt like it was make or break,” Eversley said. “Let’s give these guys one more crack at this thing. See what we can get out of them. If somewhere along the season we figure out it’s not going to work, we probably need to shift.”

But the Bulls were 24-27 at the trade deadline. Instead of pivoting then, management once again chose inaction. LaVine had season-ending surgery in February, ending any chance to trade him before the season ended. And the Bulls decided to prioritize making the play-in tournament for the second consecutive season instead of unloading their veteran talent.

They held onto Drummond, who sources said could have returned multiple second-round picks from Philadelphia (where Drummond ended up signing this summer), and Caruso, who had interest from Golden State in a package that included draft compensation, sources said.

Throughout the season, Karnisovas indicated that he wanted to bring back DeRozan for both his value on the court and DeRozan’s investment in the team’s young players. DeRozan maintained all season that he wanted to remain in Chicago, a place he said had made him happiest since being traded from Toronto in 2018.

“We just did not feel like it was the right thing for this team,” Eversley said about moving pieces at the deadline. “You’ve got a guy in DeMar, for as much as he’s done for our team or [Vucevic], for as much as he’s done — do you just sit there and pivot out and put those guys in a situation that’s like ‘What are we doing?’ We felt like we owed it to the team to keep it together.”

It wasn’t until days before the NBA draft that the Bulls finally made a move — a transaction that was met with bewilderment around the league.

The Bulls traded Caruso — who has made All-NBA Defensive teams the past two seasons and made the four-year, $36 million contract he signed in 2021 seem like a bargain — to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Giddey. The 21-year-old point guard has promise, but also saw dwindling minutes during the Thunder’s most important playoff games.

The deal left many wondering why the Bulls did not acquire additional draft picks. Eversley defended the transaction as a basketball trade and said the Bulls were more than happy to acquire a young player with that much experience and upside.

“There’s no appetite in our building to go young and just blow it all up,” Eversley said. “We’ve gone young. We’ve got players who are experienced and give us a greater opportunity to have a longer runway for sustainability to winning meaningful games for a longer time.

“I don’t want to, a year from now, [be] winning 15 games and focusing on the lottery. We have an opportunity here to roll out younger players who give us an opportunity to turn this thing around, maybe not quicker, but in a more pragmatic approach than just looking at the future and building through the draft.”

By acquiring Giddey, the Bulls had marked a new direction. Re-signing restricted free agent Williams, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2020 draft, became a priority because he was the same age as the rest of the core and management still believes in his upside.

But it left DeRozan as the odd man out.

DeRozan, who turns 35 in August and was a free agent this summer, put together one of the most productive three year stretches in team history since he signed in the summer of 2021. He made two All-Star teams, was one of the best clutch performers in the NBA and became a leader for the franchise both on and off the court.

The two sides never got close on a contract extension, despite having all season to negotiate, sources told ESPN.

“A thank you would be an understatement,” DeRozan wrote in a farewell post to Bulls fans. “The love, passion and joy you filled me with for three seasons was a dream. It gave me a drive every night to return the feeling.”

The Bulls also had more initial optimism they would be able to find a trade partner for LaVine, but as the market for LaVine stalled, they had to face the reality that his maximum contract would still be on the books. Keeping LaVine while re-signing both Williams and DeRozan would push the Bulls into the luxury tax, something the Bulls have done only once (2013).

The Bulls agreed to a sign-and-trade with the Kings, who gave DeRozan a new three-year, $74 million contract earlier this month.

“I love DeMar. He was terrific for our organization the last three years,” Eversley said. “But I don’t think we were in a position to deliver what he was looking for going forward. He wants to win. He deserves an opportunity to win at a really high level. And arguably, we’re not in that situation right now. As much as it hurt to let him go, I’m extremely happy for him.”

THE TENSION BETWEEN LaVine and the organization has been growing over the past year.

When the team got off to a rough start at the beginning of the season, LaVine expressed his frustration with the constant losing. LaVine knew the Bulls had engaged in trade conversations last summer, so through his representation at Klutch Sports, he let the organization know he was open to the two sides working together to find a new destination. It was short of a full trade request, but it still irked Karnisovas, sources told ESPN, a slight perceived as LaVine not being committed to sticking with the team.

LaVine also annoyed the organization with his decision to have season-ending surgery in February — a decision the Bulls were sure to note in a news release was a route chosen by LaVine and his agent, Rich Paul, instead of rehabbing with hopes to play the rest of the season.

“You never want to have surgery,” LaVine said in March, a month after his surgery, while noting he was already ahead of schedule. “But I got to a conclusion, especially with what the doctor was telling me, your pain level, this thing isn’t going to heal on its own.”

LaVine has also clashed in recent years with coach Billy Donovan. The two have remained mostly cordial about their relationship in public, but they have not been on the same page in recent seasons. The most public incident occurred in November 2022, when Donovan benched LaVine during a fourth quarter comeback that ultimately fell short against the Orlando Magic.

“You play a guy like me down the stretch,” LaVine said after the game that night.

LaVine has also felt singled out during film sessions and feels like he has taken too much blame for the team’s losing during his tenure — which has produced one playoff appearance in seven years — despite other roster failings, sources told ESPN. Donovan, meanwhile, believes he’s been trying to get LaVine to buy in to a more team-friendly playing style, according to sources, emphasizing the way the Bulls competed in LaVine’s absence last year as evidence for the team’s potential if LaVine fits within the system.

Donovan flew to Los Angeles for a few days in July to spend time with LaVine and continue to invest in their relationship, the feedback from which was positive, per sources.

Despite LaVine’s name sitting at the center of trade speculation for months, the Bulls are preparing to welcome him back to training camp this fall.

A trade market never developed fully for LaVine throughout the season in part because of his contract — he still has three-years, $138 million remaining on the maximum contract he signed in 2022 — but also because of injuries that slowed his 2023-24 season (he only played in 25 games before having right foot surgery in February). LaVine has fully recovered from the injury and will be ready to start the season on time. He has been in communication with the Bulls, who also had team trainers in Los Angeles this summer to visit him for a workout.

“The most unfortunate situation for Zach last year was that he got hurt,” Eversley said. “Coming out of camp, he wasn’t right. Him going down early in the season proved that.

“When he came back, he was pretty good and the team was pretty good. Small sample size, but we can build off that. Simply put, we’re looking forward to having him come back to training camp and joining the team.”

It remains to be seen if LaVine’s presence will work toward the team’s primary goal. A two-time All-Star and one of the league’s most explosive offensive players, LaVine returning to form could help rebuild his value across the league for a potential trade. If Chicago is fully committed to developing its young players, however, having the ball in their hands will be critical. That makes LaVine, who has averaged 18.1 field goals in 34.5 minutes per game in his Bulls career, an awkward fit.

If the seven-year relationship between LaVine and the Bulls could be described as a marriage, it’s one where both sides are in agreement that a separation is needed. Both parties have remained professional for now, but the only question is when, not if, the partnership will end and whether it can do so before things get messy.

“He’s never won, he’s done it his way the whole way and never won,” a team source told ESPN. “If he’s interested in winning, he’ll do what’s asked of him. And if he’s motivated to not be here, one way is to come, be compliant and be who he is.”

CHANGE WAS NOT limited to the players on the roster, as the Bulls also decided to shakeup Donovan’s coaching staff this summer.