Arturas Karnisovas Rumors

Bulls Notes: Front Office, Rose, Buzelis, Williams

August 30th, 2025 at 2:23pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Bulls have been mired in mediocrity for the past three seasons, finishing with middling records a shade below .500 and failing to advance out of the play-in tournament each year.

With that in mind, Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times (subscriber link) takes stock of whether or not Chicago has an actionable strategy for lifting the club out of its plight long-term. Cowley calls out president Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley for having “no real plan” for bringing in an All-Star-caliber player this summer, either through free agency or a trade.

There’s more out of the Windy City:

On January 24 this season, the Bulls will retire the No. 1 jersey of former 2011 MVP guard Derrick Rose, who called it a career last summer. Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic asserts that Rose is worthy of such an honor despite only spending eight seasons — including two years almost entirely lost due to injury from 2012-14 — in Chicago. Lorenzi observes that Rose, a Chicago native and former MVP, will be just the fifth Bulls player to have his jersey retired, along with Michael Jordan‘s No. 23, Scottie Pippen‘s No. 33, Jerry Sloan‘s No. 4, and Bob Love‘s No. 10.
In lieu of landing an established star, the Bulls are counting on 2025 All-Rookie Second Team forward Matas Buzelis to emerge as their star of the future, Lorenzi observes in the same story.
Just a year after being signed to a five-year, $90MM deal, Bulls forward Patrick Williams finds himself in a tenuous standing with Chicago, Lorenzi writes as he considers what the next step is for the Bulls and the former No. 4 overall pick. The club’s lone trade this summer, for another defense-first young forward in Isaac Okoro, could make Williams somewhat expendable if he doesn’t take a step forward this fall.

Bulls’ Nikola Vucevic Discusses Karnisovas, Future

August 29th, 2025 at 5:02pm CST by Rory Maher

Speaking to Lukas Katilius of BasketNews.com ahead of Montenegro’s 27-point loss to Lithuania at EuroBasket 2025, a game in which he recorded 20 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block, Bulls center Nikola Vucevic said he has a strong relationship with head of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas.

Vucevic has been the subject of trade rumors for several months, including speculation in late July about a potential mid-season buyout if Chicago is unable to eventually find a deal it likes.

“It has been very good. We have good communication,” Vucevic said of his relationship with Karnisovas. “He has always been pretty open with me. Even just a couple of weeks ago, when the buyout news came out, he actually texted me to tell me not to worry about it and not to read into it.

“I have known AK for a long time. When I did my pre-draft workout, he was with Houston and took me out to dinner for an interview. So I have known him for a very long time.”

Vucevic, who turns 35 years old in October, is on an expiring $21.48MM contract. He defended Karnisovas’ tenure, saying he liked a lot of the moves the front office has made over the years, but noted the previous iteration of the team battled injuries (Lonzo Ball, among others) and the Bulls weren’t sure how to pivot until they decided to turn to “slightly younger players.”

Vucevic said earlier this month he has “almost no doubt” that he’ll open the season with the Bulls and told BasketNews he was very open to staying in Chicago, though he acknowledged that wasn’t necessarily in his control.

“Yes, of course. I mean, it has been good for me there,” Vucevic said. “We will see—I have one more year left with them, so we will see what happens if I stay or if something changes. But yeah, obviously, I would love to win in Chicago.”

While he isn’t the most nimble defender or a great rim protector, Vucevic’s per-game production has been quite consistent over his Bulls tenure and he has also been durable. The two-time All-Star had one of his most efficient offensive seasons in 2024/25, averaging 18.5 points, 10.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game with a shooting line of .530/.402/.805 in 73 regular season appearances (31.2 MPG).

Bulls Have Likely Given Extensions To Karnisovas, Eversley

June 18th, 2025 at 7:55am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Bulls apparently won’t be making any major front office moves.

Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley are believed to have signed contract extensions, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Cowley notes that Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf never makes front office extensions public but a source told the Sun-Times beat writer that the front office duo needed to be extended first before a new agreement could be reached with coach Billy Donovan.

Drew Stevens of The Bigs (Bluesky link) first broke the news of the extensions for Karnisovas and Eversley.

Karnisovas commented shortly after the regular season that he felt his job was safe due to his strong relationships with both Jerry Reinsdorf and Michael Reinsdorf.

“We take pride, especially in this building, in everybody being on the same page,” Karnisovas said. “It’s very hard to accomplish, but that’s how it is in this building between the ownership, front office, coaching staff, performance staff, so they have always been very supportive of my decisions, my thoughts, about this direction.”

Marc Stein reported on Sunday that the Bulls and Donovan were working on an extension. According to Cowley, the Bulls are close to finalizing that deal and have been in discussions with the head coach since the season ended.

The Knicks were denied permission to speak with Donovan regarding their head coaching position but that had no impact on the Donovan extension talks, according to Cowley, who hears from multiple sources that Donovan had no interest in leaving the Bulls, “especially for the Knicks position under the current regime.” Donovan values the way the Bulls front office operates, as Karnisovas listens to his input on team matters and roster decisions. That likely would not have been the case in New York.

This will be the second time the Bulls have extended Donovan, who has one year left on his current deal.

Central Notes: Sheppard, Pacers, Bulls, Strus

April 27th, 2025 at 1:40pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After starting Pacers swingman Andrew Nembhard got into foul trouble during Indiana’s Game 3 playoff series loss to Milwaukee, reserve guard Ben Sheppard found himself playing more minutes than he had in the contests prior.

Sheppard knocked down a three-point shot during his six first-half minutes and the Pacers outscored Milwaukee by six points during those minutes. He went just 1-of-4 from the field in the second half, but was a +3 in 15:26 of action on the night.

According to Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star, head coach Rick Carlisle hinted that he may want to play Sheppard more going forward.

“Time to get him involved,” Carlisle said. “He did some really good things in the first half…. He gives us another guy to chase (Damian) Lillard around a little bit. Look, we need all hands on deck. We need everybody. Guys are gonna have to be able to come in and possibly play short minutes from time to time to help us with matchups, to help us with rebounding, to help us with spacing. You name it.”

There’s more out of the Central Division:

A lot went wrong in the Pacers’ 117-101 Game 3 defeat, as Dopirak details in another story. Two-time All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton believes that the team’s defense was the foundational issue. “We have to do a better job of rotating,” Haliburton said. “I gotta do a better job of staying down on shot fakes. Ground and contest, second-jumper contest. It starts with me. That was my matchup to start the game, so I gotta be better, but we were rotating and I thought we had a couple of miscommunications that led to some open ones and he got hot.” Dopirak also notes that the club leaned too heavily on isolation scoring for All-Star forward Pascal Siakam.
The first round of the playoffs are highlighting the major problems in longtime Bulls president Arturas Karnisovas’ team construction, opines Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. As Cowley explains, Chicago was among the NBA’s fastest-paced offenses and ranked in the bottom half of the league in defense, a profile that doesn’t match many serious contenders.
Cavaliers swingman Max Strus has emerged as a perfect role player for the team as it gears up to sweep Miami, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.

Bulls Notes: Karnisovas, Vucevic, Ball, Patton, More

April 18th, 2025 at 3:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

Before talking about his plans for the Bulls‘ future, executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas addressed a couple rumors about himself at Thursday’s press conference, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.

First, Karnisovas said he has no interest in returning to the Nuggets to replace recently fired general manager Calvin Booth. He also emphasized that he considers his job with the Bulls to be safe because he still has a strong relationship with owners Jerry Reinsdorf and Michael Reinsdorf.

“We take pride, especially in this building, in everybody being on the same page,” Karnisovas said. “It’s very hard to accomplish, but that’s how it is in this building between the ownership, front office, coaching staff, performance staff, so they have always been very supportive of my decisions, my thoughts, about this direction.”

He added that the team achieved many of its goals coming into the season, such as changing its style of play, developing its young talent and keeping its first-round pick for 2025. He admitted that major changes are unlikely to happen this summer, but noted that the Bulls will have more financial flexibility in 2026.

“I’m asking fans for patience because we’re in the first year of that transition,” Karnisovas said. “I thought the way we finished the year showed some promise. It’s hard to win games in this league and to finish 15-5, yeah, it’s not a victory lap, but I think there are some positives.”

There’s more from Chicago:

The trade speculation that surrounded Nikola Vucevic heading into the February deadline is likely to re-emerge this summer. After Wednesday’s play-in loss, the 34-year-old center talked about wanting to be with a team that can “win now” and make long playoff runs (Twitter video link from Chicago Sports Network).
Lonzo Ball was never able to return from the sprained right wrist that kept him out of action since February 28, but he said it won’t require surgery, per K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network (Twitter link). After missing two and a half seasons due to a knee injury, Ball said his knee “did better than expected” and he’s looking forward to a normal offseason without having to concentrate on rehab. “I went above the goals I set for myself (physically),” Ball added (Twitter link).
Bulls director of player development Peter Patton won’t be returning to the team next season, Johnson confirms (via Twitter). According to Cowley, the news of Patton’s exit left some players on the roster “beyond pissed,” as one told the Sun-Times in a text message.
Within the same Sun-Times story, Cowley says there’s a feeling in the organization that while Karnisovas often asks for player input before making decisions, he doesn’t always take those opinions into account. “They have to fit his,” one source explained to Cowley.
Given that the Bulls have only won a single playoff game since Karnisovas and Billy Donovan joined the organization in 2020, Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune wonders why the team’s head of basketball operations and head coach aren’t on hotter seats.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks previews the Bulls’ offseason in an Insider-only story, as well as in a YouTube video. Working out a new contract with restricted free agent Josh Giddey and determining what to do with veterans on expiring contracts are among the top summer priorities in Chicago, as Marks details.

Luke Adams contributed to this story.

Bulls Notes: Play-In Loss, White, Karnisovas, Huerter

April 16th, 2025 at 11:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Bulls‘ season ended in familiar fashion on Wednesday night with another loss to Miami in the play-in tournament, writes Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune. This is the third straight year that it’s happened, and Wednesday’s game wasn’t close, with the Heat pulling away early while sinking a barrage of outside shots.

Poe notes that Miami scored 39 points in the first quarter and 32 more in the second quarter, neutralizing the Bulls’ game plan of pushing the pace in transition because they constantly had to inbound the ball after made shots. The Heat connected on 10 three-pointers in the first half and held a 24-point lead at intermission.

The home crowd found a little bit to cheer about as the Bulls briefly cut the lead to 13 points in the fourth quarter, but Miami quickly responded to put the game away. With a 39-43 record and an early postseason exit, Poe points out that it’s Chicago’s worst season in four years. The loss ensures the Bulls’ first-round pick will be in the lottery, but they’ll have minuscule odds of moving up to one of the top four selections.

There’s more from Chicago:

Coby White believes the Heat’s experience in big games made the difference, per Andrew Seligman of The Associated Press. White, who had been on a scoring tear to close out the regular season, finished with 17 points but shot just 5-of-20 from the field. “We didn’t really have game-plan discipline,” he said. “We beat them in the regular season. We thought if we just do what we normally do, then we’ll be good. But obviously, they’ve got guys that have been to the finals. They’ve got guys that know what it takes. They got a head coach who’s one of the best head coaches in the league. They came in and they were the better team tonight.”
Executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas should be embarrassed that he wasted another season on player development instead of finding a way to get elite talent on the roster, contends Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Cowley states that every mistake the front office has made over the past five years was on display Wednesday night, but the ultimate difference was dominant shooting by Miami’s Tyler Herro, who finished with 38 points. “You look at any great team, they have ‘a guy’ that’s really, really elite,” coach Billy Donovan said. “And a lot of times it’s in the backcourt. I think Coby made a really good jump, and wherever he gets to, I don’t know. Josh (Giddey) made a nice jump. I’m sure those will be all things the front office will take a look at as they go into the draft and free agency. I don’t disagree with you because that’s kind of been the case. I think what’s changed is the number of guys you needed.”
Kevin Huerter, who was acquired from Sacramento in February, is hoping for a long-term future in Chicago, Cowley adds in a separate story. Huerter still has one season left on his contract, and he wants to find some stability after being dealt twice in the past three years.

No Front Office Changes Planned For Bulls

February 13th, 2025 at 7:01pm CST by Luke Adams

The Bulls have no plans to replace executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas as their lead front office executive, a team source tells Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times, who says general manager Marc Eversley and head coach Billy Donovan are likely just as safe as Karnisovas.

According to Cowley, there has been a “reoccurring edict” from team ownership to the front office to fix a roster that has finished in the middle of the pack for several years running. However, the Reinsdorfs (chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and president Michael Reinsdorf) still believe that Karnisovas is the right man for that job.

As for Donovan, he’s well-liked by both the front office and Bulls ownership, Cowley writes, noting that the organization’s top decision-makers have been impressed by the way the veteran coach transformed the club’s offense this season — Chicago ranks third in the NBA in pace in 2024/25 after placing 28th last season. Bulls management has also taken note of the strong relationships Donovan has developed in the locker room, Cowley adds.

Karnisovas, who was hired by the Bulls in 2020, made an in-season trade this month for the first time since an eventful 2021 deadline that saw Chicago land Nikola Vucevic. After spending more than a year on the trade block, Zach LaVine was sent from Chicago to Sacramento last week in a deal that saw Chicago reacquire control of its 2025 first-round pick.

Of course, as Cowley observes, there’s a case to be made that the LaVine trade was more about undoing previous moves, including LaVine’s maximum-salary contract and the 2022 acquisition of DeMar DeRozan in which the Bulls gave up that ’25 first-rounder. The Bulls also ended up hanging onto the rest of their trade candidates, including Vucevic, at last Thursday’s deadline.

Still, now that they’ve regained control of their 2025 first-rounder, the Bulls are well positioned to add another young player this June to a core that includes rookie forward Matas Buzelis. While Karnisovas told reporters last week that he’d like to see his team make a playoff push, Cowley says the front office wants to maximize its draft odds but can’t say so publicly.

If moving up the lottery order is the Bulls’ goal, they’ve been going in the “right” direction as of late, having lost their last four games by an average of 24.5 points per contest. Chicago’s 22-33 record is the eighth-worst mark in the league and the team is currently just 1.5 games ahead of the 20-34 Sixers and Nets.

Bulls Notes: Karnisovas, New Players, Butler

February 9th, 2025 at 1:47pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Bulls executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas defended his team’s limited moves leading up to the trade deadline in an interview with K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network (Twitter link).

In a three-team deal with San Antonio and Sacramento, the Bulls traded former two-time All-Star wing Zach LaVine to reacquire control of their own top-10 protected first-round 2025 pick, along with three fringe role players.

Headed nowhere fast with a 22-30 pre-deadline record, Karnisovas opted to otherwise stay quiet and not move on from former two-time All-Star center Nikola Vucevic, despite there being trade overtures for his services.

During his conversation with Johnson, Karnisovas cited system continuity as part of the reason he didn’t want to move more key rotation players from what’s looking to be barely a play-in team.

“I think I’m happy where we are,” Karnisovas told Johnson. “I remember [the] trade deadline four years ago, when we acquired Vuc and we had, like, [five new] players. And it was tough for the 30 games remaining in season… to keep the same group and learning how to play with each other and all that stuff.”

After trading for Vucevic at the 2020/21 season deadline, Chicago went 12-17 across its final 29 contests and finished as the No. 11 seed. In the intervening seasons, the team had made zero trade deadline moves until this year. Although they’ve qualified for the play-in tournament several times, the Bulls have only made the actual playoffs once since adding Vucevic, with or without in-season trades.

A more talented Philadelphia team is breathing down the Bulls’ necks, just one game behind 10th-seeded Chicago as of this writing. Karnisovas’ argument for system continuity to effectively preserve an underwhelming team performance rings hollow.

Jon Greenberg of The Athletic also calls out Karnisovas for not having or explaining a clear vision for Chicago after dealing LaVine, while his colleague Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic is similarly baffled.

There’s more out of Chicago:

Karnisovas looked into flipping the three new Bulls — guards Tre Jones and Kevin Huerter and center Zach Collins — after trading for them on Tuesday, writes Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune. The players were with Chicago but sat out its game on Wednesday, while awaiting possible trades away from the team. “It was definitely crazy,” Collins said of the uncertainty. “You’re sitting there, you don’t know what’s going on, then you see a tweet or you see an Instagram post and you call your agent three times. You’re just like, ‘Somebody tell me something.’” Poe notes that Huerter and Collins are both under team control through the 2025/26 season, while Jones reaches free agency this year.
Jones, Huerter and Collins since made their debuts for the Bulls in a 132-111 blowout defeat to Golden State on Friday, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. The players may all have tenuous long-term futures with Chicago, however, with Jones on an expiring deal and Huerter and Collins potential offseason trade candidates. Head coach Billy Donovan acknowledged that the new Bulls are essentially auditioning to stick around beyond this season. “These guys fitting in stylistically on how we want to play, you want to give them a chance and see how they can help our group more or less,” Donovan said. “For those guys, and we had discussed this, and it’s this way around the league, there are always these pins and needles, ‘Am I going to be here? I just got here. Am I going somewhere else?’”
That Warriors loss marked an uncomfortable moment for Bulls fans. The return of Jimmy Butler — playing his first game ever for Golden State — to the United Center served as a reminder to fans that not much has changed for the team since its last half-hearted rebuild, opines Paul Sullivan of The Chicago Tribune. The last time the Bulls traded away a multi-time All-Star was in 2017 when it was Butler who was sent to Minnesota for LaVine and others.

Bulls Notes: LaVine, Ball, Vucevic, Dosunmu, Jones

February 6th, 2025 at 7:07pm CST by Arthur Hill

Zach LaVine might have felt more bitterness if the Bulls had traded him a year ago, but he had nothing but good things to say about his former organization after being dealt to the Kings, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.

After trying for more than a year to unload LaVine’s pricey contract, Chicago sent him to Sacramento on Monday as part of a three-team deal. Cowley notes that there was a lot of mistrust between LaVine and the Bulls when he was first placed on the market, but that has dissipated since this season began.

“There’s no bad blood,” LaVine said. “I got traded early on in my career, and it hit me, but now you control what you can. I was taking my son on a walk when I got the call from [agent] Rich [Paul], and I was extremely excited. I appreciate everything and my time in Chicago, but now that I’m here, it’s time to take my career to the next step and continue that along. It’s always great to be in a place that you are wanted, and not everyone has an opportunity to have that, so I’m very thankful.”

LaVine was a leader in Chicago, and many of his former teammates were sorry to see him go, Cowley adds. Nikola Vucevic recalled how welcoming LaVine was when he was acquired in a 2021 deadline deal, rookie Matas Buzelis called him a mentor and Coby White said he was “shocked and sad” when he learned that LaVine was leaving.

“Everybody has to play the cards that they’re dealt,” LaVine said. “The situation that you’re in, the team that you play for, I always put my best foot forward and try to do everything I can to help the team. Are you always going to be able to? No, but for me now in my 11th year, being in one playoff series, you want to try to challenge yourself to get there. You want to compete for championships; you want to be in big games.”

There’s more on the Bulls:

The Bulls received a few trade offers for Lonzo Ball, but he preferred to stay in Chicago and was rewarded Wednesday with a two-year extension, Cowley states in a separate story. Ball’s teammates found out about the deal at halftime and offered their congratulations to Ball, who overcame more than two years of knee issues to return to the court. “Guys are very happy for him,” Vucevic said. “Guys have a certain respect and responsibility to step it up when he’s on the court because we know what he’s been through, we see how hard he competes every night. When you see that, you can’t help but try to match that and play hard for him. The way he plays, great team player, always tries to stay positive. You see him dive on the floor, fight for rebounds … you see that and what he’s been through, it just motivates you to play harder.”
Speaking to reporters on Thursday afternoon, Bulls head of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas raised eyebrows with some of his comments, suggesting that a “playoff push” could still be on the table this season and stating that he’s focused on building a solid 10-player group rather than focusing on finding stars, Cowley writes for the Sun-Times. “There’s different structures that you can try to get to a championship,” Karnisovas said, per Jamal Collier of ESPN (Twitter link). “There’s two or three star players and then a lot of role players or you can build it as nine or 10 very good players.” Karnisovas specified that the Bulls are attempting the latter route, Collier adds.
A source close to the situation tells Cowley that Karnisovas and his front office have a “more definite plan in place” than what he has conveyed publicly, and Cowley clarifies that the Bulls executive would only want to see the team making a second-half playoff push if it’s led by young players like Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey.
“We obviously value draft compensation and young players, and flexibility, I think in that order,” Karnisovas said on Thursday in explaining the decision to retain veterans like Nikola Vucevic. “But again, we have nine players that are between 20 and 25 (years old). You have to have a right mix of players to grow. You can’t just roll out all young players and they’re going to develop on their own. I think you need the right vets, experienced guys to be around. I see Vooch and keeping Zo (Ball) in that role.” According to Cowley, the Bulls considered the offers they got for Vucevic to be underwhelming and are hopeful they’ll improve in the summer when teams have more cap flexibility.
Multiple teams who spoke to the Bulls ahead of the trade deadline about their guards came away with the impression that the team views Ayo Dosunmu as a keeper, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network (Twitter link). Interestingly, Johnson also says that newly acquired point guard Tre Jones is a candidate to remain with the team beyond his expiring contract.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Bulls Notes: Vucevic, Craig, Duarte, LaVine Trade, Phillips

February 3rd, 2025 at 11:02am CST by Arthur Hill

The three-team deal that will send Zach LaVine to Sacramento could be the start of an active stretch for the Bulls before Thursday’s deadline, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Parting with LaVine indicates that vice president Arturas Karnisovas is now fully committed to rebuilding, which means veteran center Nikola Vucevic and a few others could be heading out next.

Cowley reveals that Vucevic thought he had already been traded when he woke up Sunday morning and found his phone filled with text messages. They all turned out to be about the shocking deal that sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers.

“I went early to bed; I’m 34, you gotta go to bed earlier,” Vucevic said. “I woke up, and I had, like, 50 messages. I was like, ‘Oh, where am I going?’’’

Cowley notes that the Doncic trade creates a major opportunity for the Bulls to move Vucevic. With Anthony Davis gone from L.A., the team needs help in the middle and may be a logical destination for Vucevic, who is having one of the best offensive seasons of his career.

“I don’t play the linked game much,” Vucevic said. “I don’t really get involved with that too much. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a more interesting answer. You never know. Things happen. But I don’t think anyone in the world knew this trade was going to happen besides [Mavericks general manager] Nico Harrison and [Lakers GM] Rob Pelinka, and it happened. I’m focused on what I can control.”

There’s more on the Bulls:

A source tells Cowley that more trades are expected this week as the front office tries to remake the roster. He reports that Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley both returned to Chicago after road games over the past week to plot the team’s deadline strategy. Before the Doncic or LaVine deals were reported, one player told Cowley that this year’s deadline feels different, indicating that the locker room is bracing for major changes.
Because they’re taking back three players and only sending out one, the Bulls will have to open up two roster spots before the LaVine trade can be finalized. Cowley reports that the team is trying to trade Torrey Craig and Chris Duarte, but isn’t finding much interest and may have to place them on waivers.
While Kevin Huerter, Zach Collins and Tre Jones seems like a meager return for LaVine, who was putting up huge scoring numbers, Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune says the trade should be judged in context. The Bulls tried for more than a year to find a taker for LaVine, and parting with the nearly $95MM he’s owed over the next two seasons will give them much more financial flexibility. From Chicago’s standpoint, the key to the deal was getting back full control of this year’s first-round pick from the Spurs. Poe notes that rebuilding teams need all the draft assets they can get, but adds that the franchise shouldn’t be in this position after giving up the pick on a protected basis when it acquired DeMar DeRozan from San Antonio in 2022.
In a separate story, Cowley talks to Julian Phillips about his reduced playing time after coach Billy Donovan recently shook up his rotation. The second-year small forward had been seeing regular minutes earlier in the season. “It hasn’t been frustrating for me,” Phillips said. “You kind of have to go with what the team thinks is best. And whatever that is from a coaching standpoint, it’s what it’s going to be, so I can only do the best I can to stay ready whenever I do get that opportunity.”