Any traction that could potentially exist between the Chicago Bulls and point guard LaMelo Ball for the 2020 NBA Draft hasn’t started yet.
It is nearing the time where the lottery teams will have the opportunity to see a number of top prospects participate in the 2020 NBA Draft Combine in its altered form in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The NBA Draft Combine will give the Chicago Bulls the opportunity to not only scout out the prospects at the top of their big board, but they can also figure out what the next step in this rebuild will be.
What the Bulls do with their fourth overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft Lottery will also be very telling as to the plans for the rebuild heading into its fourth year. The Bulls have a new look front office regime to head up the rebuild this offseason, and now a largely new-look coaching staff and scouting department.
To enact the start of all of these organizational changes from the top-down, former vice president of basketball operations John Paxson was demoted and general manager Gar Forman was let go entirely. The Bulls replaced Paxson with former Denver Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas and Forman with former Philadelphia 76ers senior VP of player personnel Marc Eversley.
And the next Bulls head coach will be the former OKC Thunder HC Billy Donovan. Hired last week to replace former Bulls head coach Jim Boylen, Donovan brings a lot of excitement to the table for the next step in the rebuild.
Moreover, one of the 2020 NBA Draft prospects that also brings a lot of intrigue for the Bulls rebuild is the sizable 6-foot-7 point guard LaMelo Ball. Few prospects in this draft class bring more star potential to the table than LaMelo.
But according to a report from K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago on Sep. 28, the Bulls apparently have had no contact with LaMelo as we enter the lead up to the NBA Draft Combine.
If Bulls have interest in LaMelo Ball, he said they haven't shown it yet.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) September 28, 2020
Story from Ball’s Zoom Media session today as part of NBA draft combine: https://t.co/4gDsCbyg6z
As this new NBA Draft Combine format started on Sep. 28 (and with LaMelo as one of the participants) the top point guard prospect stated that the Bulls aren’t one of the teams that he talked with. That might just be due to the lengthy process for which the Bulls have to get in contact with top tier prospects in this draft class during the updated combine.
Ball spent his season leading up to the 2020 NBA Draft process playing overseas with the Illawarra Hawks in the NBL in Australia. His draft stock has risen since the 2019-20 NBL season began last year to the point where he could be the first overall pick.