The Bulls and Hornets have amended the terms of the trade that sent Coby White to Charlotte after a physical revealed the seventh-year guard had a left calf injury, which will require him to miss some games, league sources tell Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link).
On the NBA’s official injury report, White is listed as out due to a left calf strain.
White, who turns 26 years old later this month, had played in 11 of Chicago’s last 12 games before being traded to Charlotte, but Hornets president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson suggested White would likely be held out through the All-Star break because of his calf injury.
The Hornets originally agreed to send three second-round picks — the Nuggets’ or Hornets’ 2029 selection (whichever was least favorable), the Nuggets’ 2031 pick, and the Knicks’ 2031 second — to the Bulls in the deal. According to Katz, the Hornets will retain that 2029 pick and will send Chicago the two second-rounders in 2031.
The full deal saw White and Mike Conley head to Charlotte for Collin Sexton, Ousmane Dieng and the pair of 2031 second-round picks. Conley was subsequently waived by the Hornets and intends to rejoin the Timberwolves, while the Bulls rerouted Dieng to the Bucks for Nick Richards.
Although this is the first trade of 2025/26 in which the terms were altered due to a player’s health, it’s certainly not unprecedented. For instance, the Sixers added a second-round pick to last year’s Quentin Grimes–Caleb Martin swap when the Mavericks flagged Martin’s hip injury.
The Lakers also rescinded their deal with the Hornets last February after failing Mark Williams‘ physical, though a voided trade is obviously different than the terms being changed. After the trade deadline has passed, a trade can only be voided or accepted as is — the Hornets and Bulls agreed to amend the terms of the White deal prior to Thursday’s deadline, even though the change wasn’t reported until now.
A North Carolina native who played his college ball at UNC, White has battled calf issues on both legs this season. The impending free agent has averaged 18.6 points, 4.7 assists and 3.7 rebounds on .438/.346/.805 shooting through 29 games in ’25/26 (29.1 minutes per contest).
The actual deal was struck before the deadline but I gather there’s always the possibility of amendments following physicals. However, in this case the size of the trade was reduced instead of increased. I remember years ago when an extra pick was added to an Isaiah Thomas deal due to the extent of his injuries. That was not a deadline deal, though. I’m not sure if that’s allowed after the deadline.
So AK’s deal looks even worse? One less 2nd rounder. Seems like a big price for a slightly strained calf that he’s been battling for awhile.
This is a joke right? Everybody in Basketball knew White had a calf injury. Everybody except Charlotte? Gotta be a joke.
Yet somehow AK and the Bulls look even worse…They already liquidated White and Ayo, and now somehow their return gets even worse…
Of course it does…lol All you can do as a Bulls fan is laugh at how inept this franchise has become at this point. It has just gotten comically bad.
Two years in a row AK sits at the podium and says he doesn’t want to be stuck in the middle…Yet, when the dust was settled all the Bulls did was swap around pending free agents, get rid of their fan favorite and hometown young 2-way stud in Ayo, and somehow got even worse without even getting a single 1st Round pick…
Trading Ayo was a mistake in the first place yes. Then to trade him and not get a FRP, or Bellinger at the very least, is malpractice .
Every year the bulls feel like a 2k team in MyGM … like a team that u can finesse and just poach players for nothing. I’m really not sure AK knows the difference btwn FRPs and SRPs . That’s the only explanation— that or brain damage. Or both. See Williams contract exhibit A
The Williams contract should have been the first thing to go regardless how difficult it could have been. Everything else after. So yeah Chicago did blah
Ayo should be back in Chicago
Bad moves
Why do you think that the Bulls could possibly trade Williams with his contract?
Just release him at this point, he has no trade value, just eat his salary and open up a roster spot to evaluate a serious young nba player bc this guy does not care to be a basketball player, it’s a job to him not a profession.
So Williams is the only player in basketball history who cannot be traded?
Called it a couple days ago. I said someone will fail their physical
Just veto the trade Charlotte
LMAO we are a laughing stock.
Having grown up in the 90s i still expect the Bulls to be good. Probably always will, it’s baked into my brain. It’s a shame they are run by such idiots.
NBA player values are funny especially guards
Desmond Bane = 4 firsts and a pick swap
Trae Young = CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert
Jared McCain = 1 fist and 3 seconds
Coby White = 2 seconds
Jose Alvarado = 2 seconds
Vit Krejci = 2 seconds
Really goes to show how badly the Bulls messed up Whites value and same with Trae Young. Plus how moving a player at the right time is important like Desmond Bane
Man I thought that was gonna be rescinded. And yet, here we are, with Chicago in an even worse position than what was already a pit of doom…
After the Caruso deal, there is no GM non-willing to obliterate Chicago in a trade.
Is there a seminar AK can attend on negotiations?
Had the Hornets rescinded the trade, does that mean we will get Coby back?