The Bulls had a relatively quiet summer in 2025, drafting a high-risk, high-reward prospect in Noa Essengue with the 12th overall pick and trading Lonzo Ball to the Cavaliers in a straight-up swap for Isaac Okoro. The rest of the roster remained largely unchanged from the group that finished 2024/25 on a surprising 15-5 run after a 24-38 start.
The previous iteration of the team never looked the same after Ball's knee injury interrupted -- and ultimately derailed -- the first-place start to the 2021/22 campaign. But that didn't stop the Arturas Karnisovas-led front office regime from running back the other four starters (DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Alex Caruso and Nikola Vucevic) for multiple seasons, despite consistently mediocre results.
The Bulls parted ways with DeRozan and Caruso in the 2024 offseason, then sent LaVine to the Kings in a three-team deal that also involved the Spurs in February 2025. The roster deconstruction took a minor detour last offseason, but continued in earnest again ahead of the '25/26 deadline.
After winning 40, 39 and 39 games in the previous three seasons, the Bulls were essentially on an identical trajectory to open '25/26, having gone 24-27 leading into the February 5 deadline. Karnisovas and top lieutenant Marc Eversley decided to lean into a more comprehensive roster tear-down at that point, trading away four impending free agents in Vucevic, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, Kevin Huerter in four separate deals and making three other moves to net a total of nine second-round picks.
The returns from those deals were criticized by fans, who were hoping to see the team cash in, at least in some cases, earlier on their most valuable trade chips. White and Dosunmu had been with the Bulls their entire careers, but rather than trade them when they had a year or more left on their contracts, the team waited until they were essentially rental players for the final few months of the season.
While the aggregate returns from all the trades the past couple years was indeed underwhelming, Karnisovas and Eversley at least deserve credit for both creating and maintaining the financial flexibility that could result in the Bulls having $56MM in cap room this summer.
Of course, part of the reason that number is so high is because the Huerter trade with Detroit brought back guard Jaden Ivey. It initially looked like the former No. 5 overall pick might be part of the club's plans going forward, but he was waived on March 31 after he made a series of inflammatory comments on Instagram Live streams; the Bulls cited conduct detrimental to the team in their brief press release announcing the move.
Besides reportedly creating friction in the locker room, Ivey was dealing with a knee issue that limited him during his brief stint with Chicago. The saga created questions about whether the front office had done enough homework prior to acquiring Ivey, and it was said to be one of the final straws for ownership -- Karnisovas and Eversley were dismissed on April 6, a week before the regular season ended.
The Bulls' front office had been criticized for years for their fixation on the old core, and there was reportedly a "growing disconnect" between management and several other parts of the organization, not just ownership. Karnisovas and Eversley had been in charge for six years and it took nearly that entire tenure to fully lean into a rebuild. Chicago went just 7-24 after its 24-27 start, finishing '25/26 with a 31-51 record.
That record resulted in the Bulls finishing with the ninth-best pre-lottery odds and a 20.2% chance of moving into the top four. After losing a pre-lottery tiebreaker in 2025 to the Mavericks, who surprisingly moved up to No. 1 while the Bulls ended up at No. 12, Chicago was one of the big winners of this year's lottery, moving up to No. 4 in what's widely viewed as a very strong draft. That's particularly true of the consensus top four, which features AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson.
In addition to their own first-rounder, the Bulls also control the 15th pick and a pair of second-rounders (Nos. 38 and 56). Their four selections are tied for the most in the NBA as they enter the first offseason under new head of basketball operations Bryson Graham, a former Pelicans and Hawks executive who was hired to replace Karnisovas.
The Bulls' Offseason Plans
The Bulls have three primary objectives this offseason: Hiring a new head coach to replace Billy Donovan, who opted out of the final year of his contract; drafting the right players (particularly the two first-round picks) to add to their young core; and deciding what to do with their expected cap room.
There's also the lingering question of whether the new front office views all of Giddey, Essengue, and Buzelis as part of the team's core, since Graham and company weren't involved in acquiring those players and presumably have no attachment to them.
Yes! I agree that Braun and Watson should be top targets. Robinson makes a lot of sense too. Ayo probably would love to come back to Chicago on a long term deal.
I like offering Reaves a max. I like trading for Jarrett Allen. Bulls have so many options, it will be interesting to see which direction Graham wants to go.
I don’t know what Graham is going to do but I’m very much looking forward to some forward thinking around here and that starts with the coach and the draft, Then FA. I want to know what he thinks of Giddey, Essengue and a lot of things he really had nothing to do with. Are they trade chips or fixtures? We as fans know nothing about Essengue and Giddey has spent way too much time on the sidelines. I sincerely hope he completely resets the medical staff for this team which is probably the worst in history of professional sports. He’s got a lot on his plate and he needs to start getting things set up faster. Jones, Smith and Okoro need to go whether it’s now or at the deadline but don’t make the same mistake the last brain trust( Not really) made and hold on to things too long. With the new lottery system all the 2nd round picks they obtained last year may worth less than they thought now and might not be as tradable. There’s a lot of ways this can go, Let’s start doing it. Ayo’s not coming back and I’m not sure it’s the right play anymore anyway. They need to get bigger and faster around here and soon. Dillingham has one year to prove something and Miller is cheap for only 1 more year so he needs to flash too. There are some options and the glass is over half full for a change. About time.
Yep, lots of options. And you didn’t even mention all the cap space.
That was my FA comment but the draft is first then FA. Not sure why they do it that way but it is what it is. Seems backwards to me but…………The Cap space is fluid where as they can get more by trading the 3 guys I mentioned and end up with 90 million instead of 65. But you are totally correct. The end of this month and Summer League should be most entertaining. I was told that you only have to match salary if both teams are over the Cap and since the Bulls are under they shouldn’t have to do that to make a deal. Load up on picks.
I don’t know how exciting the draft is going to be. Bulls will just take at #4 whichever of the top guys that is left, won’t they? Wagner and Acuff aren’t SLAP guys. I guess Graham could blow everyone away by taking Mara, or the ultimate SLAP guy, Morez Johnson, but I expect it will just be Wilson or Boozer.
At #15 it will be a little interesting to see whether Graham goes for the pick with a high ceiling or the one with a high floor. That could give an indication of how patient he will be in building his team.