There are eyes on the Bulls roster.
It’s still too early for phone calls, but there are eyes from around the Association waiting to see which way this goes.
Will executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas captain the ship directly into the iceberg or can he lighten the cargo in time to avoid it and sail into the sunset that will be the Cooper Flagg draft sweepstakes?
According to a source, all remains dead quiet on the trade front for the Bulls and has since the end of July. No surprise at this point in the campaign. But there is a growing opinion for other teams that if Karnisovas can’t move one or more of the obvious big three pieces of Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic or Lonzo Ball, they could look to move Ayo Dosunmu or a Coby White, either for draft pick assets by themselves or in a package.
That’s the tightrope that Karnisovas is still trying to navigate.
In a perfect world, the Bulls’ top suit wants to showcase as much talent as he can for about 30-35 games or so, before then making sure the roster stays in the bottom 10 for the draft lottery and keep the protected 2025 first-round draft pick out of San Antonio’s hands.
If only LaVine and Ball were more cooperative with that.
Through no fault of their own, both are sidelined with injuries. LaVine missed his third straight game with a strained adductor but was likely to play Saturday in Atlanta.
“They just want to get (the tightness) resolved,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said Thursday. “He’s certainly moving closer and closer to playing.”
Ball is not.
The injured point guard sprained his right wrist last week against Memphis, and if he continued to play it could have worsened and resulted in surgery. Once he starts dribbling a basketball – which is still not on a timetable – the Bulls will have a better idea of how long he will be in street clothes.
Either way, it’s a gut punch.
LaVine has three years and $138 million left on his deal, but Ball is in the final year of his contract, making $21.4 million. LaVine would only become moveable if a playoff caliber team was to lose a key scorer, and even then it would be difficult to make the money match.
A healthy Ball coming off the bench for a playoff contender, playing 18-20 minutes, and doing so on an expiring contract? That’s an attractive piece. Unfortunately, a piece that can’t stay up and running.
“Knock on wood that the knee has been good for him so far,” Donovan said. “I don’t know if I would classify him as ‘injury prone.’ He certainly had injuries with his knee. That’s been well documented. This was a little more of a unique one just because it was a contact injury. I’m hopeful for him because he’s really wrapped his head around of what his role is going to be moving forward, and if he shows he can play consistently inside that role I think there’s great opportunities for him here or elsewhere.”
Vucevic is playing his best basketball as a Bull, but again, his value is dictated by a market shift because of the current two years left on his deal.
That’s why White and Dosunmu could come into play. Both represent the next wave of talent that’s been developed out of the 2021 rebuild, and both are on very attractive contracts. White has two years, and just over $25 million left in total, while Dosunmu is two years at $14.5 million.
LaVine jumps to $46 million next season and has the player option at $49 million for the 2026-27 season. Someone has to go. The league is watching.