With the NBA Draft now in the rearview mirror with the conclusion of Round 2 on Thursday, it’s brass-tacks time for executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas.
Gone are the excuses.
Lost is the benefit of the doubt.
It’s time for Karnisovas and his front office to pick a lane with a clear and distinct direction rather than fumbling around the trunk to figure out a way to get unstuck from the mud.
That will begin Sunday at 5 p.m. when the free agency window opens.
Just don’t expect the Bulls to jump right through it.
As the Sun-Times reported earlier this week, several executives from around the league felt that Karnisovas was open for trade business with most of the roster on the table. Zach LaVine is the obvious one and has been for over a year, but the feeling was Nikola Vucevic and free agent DeMar DeRozan (through a sign and trade) could also be got.
Karnisovas did little to dispel that the estate sale was on when he spoke on Wednesday.
“Everything is on the table,” Karnisovas said hours after drafting forward Matas Buzelis with the 11th overall pick in the first round. “I want fans to know we are committed to the process of building a team for long term success. We’ve made some initial changes this offseason and now our focus shifts on Friday to free agency. We can’t predict exactly what’s going to happen but we’re determined to strengthen our roster.”
Strengthening it by weakening it was more accurate.
There were two key hints in Karnisovas’ statement to this offseason, however.
The “can’t predict exactly what’s going to happen” part was the first, which means the front office’s ability to continue the youth movement will be directly reliant on the frenzy of the free-agent market.
Once the likes of a Paul George and Klay Thompson make their decisions, the rest of the dominos should start falling. At least that’s what the Bulls were hoping for.
Several teams with cap room and or the desire to add a big-time scorer have already been told through back channels if they were legitimately in or out for the top of the free agent sweepstakes. Karnisovas can then try and dangle a sign-and-trade for DeRozan or look to see if anyone would be willing to make a leap of faith for a two-time All-Star in LaVine – big contract and injuries concerns included.
Only then can Karnisovas push the youth movement forward.
“I think the directional stuff we’re going to be able to establish in a week or two,” Karnisovas said of the idea of this being a pivot towards a youth movement. “I’m going to wait. I’m going to let the free agency process work out and we’re going to have more information. I can comment on that later.”
What he would comment on – even if it was done in a cloud of bluff – was the second part of his statement about strengthening the roster.
The only way to strengthen the roster by going young is also taking a step back this season to assure that they keep the 2025 top-10 protected draft pick from the Spurs. Unlike the ’24 draft class, ’25 is top heavy and deep. That’s why Karnisovas was asked if that was the plan.
“I don’t think our plans for next year are going to be impacted by our pick,” he replied, throwing out his best smokescreen. “So I think what’s going to be available in free agency, which we still don’t know … we’ll have more information, and we’ll be able to see what we look like as a team.”