Chicago Bulls players and ownership groups disagreed on return

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Chicago Bulls ownership groups had a different stance on a possible return than multiple players and staff members.

It’s been a busy Wednesday for NBA fans. Shams Charania of The Athletic and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski both had some meaningful new updates on the NBA’s potential return to action this summer. The Chicago Bulls won’t be a part of any said return.

Even though the return won’t involve the Bulls, Chicago was still an important part of Charania’s piece for The Athletic. Per Charania, the Hawks and Bulls ownership groups were in favor of returning to play, but multiple players and staff members didn’t think that was the right call.

That’s a really interesting look into what these last few weeks have been like for NBA teams. Of course the ownership groups want to get back to playing. That’s where the money is. But players and staff members have families to think about. COVID-19 is real, and even if the NBA is super smart about the safety precautions used in the return (which they will be), it’s still an increased risk of getting sick. Staying home is the safer option.

Who knows what the reasons were for some players not wanting to play. Maybe it was a moment of self-awareness. No matter how confident Zach LaVine is in his own abilities, he has to know the Bulls wouldn’t have done anything meaningful in a return, right? It would only increase his risk of getting injured ahead of the 2020-2021 season. Or maybe some guys weren’t even thinking about the basketball side of it. Maybe they were just focused on something bigger than basketball: the health and well-being of themselves and their families.

Regardless of what the reasons were for the disagreements, it’s really interesting to see the Hawks and Bulls get called out in Charania’s story. I’m guessing there were disagreements inside every franchise, but were the Hawks’ and the Bulls’ the most tumultuous? Were those ownership groups the only ones to speak up? Maybe those players and staffers were the only ones to voice their disagreements?

It’ll be interesting to see if more information comes out in the future about who disagreed with who specifically and why, but for now, we’re left to speculate.