JUNE 28: The deal is official, according to the Wizards, who announced that they received the Bulls’ 2026 and 2027 second-round picks in the swap.
JUNE 22: The Bulls are trading into the second round of tonight’s draft, Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) reports.
Per Charania, Chicago flipped two future second round draft picks to the Wizards for Washington’s No. 35 pick, which it will use on Tennessee small forward Julian Phillips.
The 6’8″ forward was an SEC All-Freshman selection during his lone college season in 2022/23. Across 32 healthy games, including 25 starts, the 19-year-old averaged 8.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.6 SPG and 0.5 BPG.
As K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago (via Twitter) notes, Phillips logged a 43-inch vertical at this year’s draft combine, the best among this rookie class. He also boasts a 6’11 1/2″ wingspan. Like several other recent draft picks by team president Arturas Karnisovas, Phillips is big for his position and fairly athletic, but lacks a consistent jump shot.
Even though the Bulls took the fewest three-point attempts of any team in the league last year and desperately need more volume shooting, it appears the team will need to look elsewhere this offseason to address that clear need.
Derrick Jones Jr. replacement
Good observation
Or well, like last offseason, they just WON’T address clear needs like large wings that can shoot 3s. Remember that’s always a possibility!
Did they determine which seconds they are?
I haven’t seen it reported yet. Maybe we’ll have to wait until it’s official to find out.