Chicago Bulls reportedly will take LaMelo Ball if he’s available at No. 4

All of the avenues the Chicago Bulls could take using their fourth overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft Lottery are starting to get more focused.

Although this seems like nearly a given for newly hired Chicago Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas, there is a widespread discussion now that he will take point guard LaMelo Ball if he’s available at their pick in the lottery. The Bulls pick fourth overall in the 2020 NBA Draft Lottery, and there’s no guarantee as to what they will do in that slot as of now.

We’re just over one week away from draft night 2020 (set to take place on Nov. 18). And there’s still a possibility it seems that the Bulls might trade up or down with their lottery pick if the return makes sense for Karnisovas and new general manager Marc Eversley. But it also sounds like their best possibility as it stands now in the four slot in this lottery would be Ball falling to them.

According to a report from K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago on Nov. 9, the Bulls he believes will take the former Illawarra Hawks NBL 6-foot-7 19-year-old point guard Ball if he slides all the way down draft board to the fourth slot. This is still no guarantee if it were to happen on draft night, but it feels like a real slam dunk if the Bulls were to have LaMelo fall to them.

To be clear, this is nothing more than a feeling and/or a belief that Johnson has about the Bulls draft night plans.

There is even more backing to the idea that the Bulls want LaMelo in this draft lottery if they have the chance to snag him. According to a report from Jonathan Givony of ESPN this week, the Bulls are on a shortlist of three teams that are very interested in picking him. The other two are the Oklahoma City Thunder and Detroit Pistons.

That could also mean for the Thunder that veteran star point guard Chris Paul might not be around in OKC for much longer. A Paul trade would not really surprise anyone if the Thunder were to pull the trigger on that before the start of the 2020-21 season.

If the Bulls were to have the opportunity to get LaMelo in the 2020 draft, it would either mean he falls further than expected down draft boards or they trade up. They might be able to swap with the likes of the Golden State Warriors or Charlotte Hornets to at least get into the top three. If nothing else, that would likely give them the opportunity to snag one of the likes of LaMelo or former Georgia shooting guard Anthony Edwards.

The Bulls hold the fourth overall pick in the 2020 draft lottery and the original Memphis Grizzlies 44th overall pick in the second round. Last year, they picked former North Carolina Tar Heels point guard Coby White seventh overall and former Arkansas Razorbacks center Daniel Gafford 38th overall.