What are the biggest what-if moments in free agency and the trade market that the Chicago Bulls had with NBA superstars since 2000?
The end of the Michael Jordan-era for the Chicago Bulls brought about challenging times for the front office and a load of superstar misses in free agency. But free agency worked out pretty well for the Bulls with a set of moves that were very smart. That was different than what we saw from this front office in the previous five years.
Outside of a handful of decent free agent signings that didn’t workout all too well for John Paxson and Gar Forman in the past 15-20 years, the Bulls didn’t have much to hang their hat on. Free agency and hitting the trade market wasn’t anything that GarPax excelled at since the turn of the century. Or, at least since the pairing took over together.
Free agent signings worth noting for the Bulls since 2000 includes former Detroit Pistons star big man Ben Wallace, Derrick Rose-sidekick and fellow big man Carlos Boozer, and future Hall-of-Fame shooting guard Dwyane Wade. Outside of the Boozer signing around 10 years ago, none of those big free agent signings workout out all that well.
The end of the Jordan-era signaled a big test ahead for the Bulls front office executives and ownership. But the Bulls weren’t ever able to put it all together enough to lure a huge named-superstar that hit the free agent market or was available on the trade block since the turn of the century.
Here’s a look into five superstars that the Chicago Bulls almost landed via trade or free agency since 2000.