Chicago Bulls haven’t ‘had any contact” with Anthony Edwards

There could now be more certainty at the top of the draft board for Arturas Karnisovas and the Chicago Bulls less than one week from draft night.

The signs are starting to add up as to how the order of the top of the 2020 NBA Draft Lottery will play out next week. The night of the draft is Nov. 18, and the Chicago Bulls hold the fourth overall pick. And the tough part about where the Bulls are picking is that there looks to be an established top three, but it gets a bit murky after that.

It sounds like the set top three for the time being includes the trio of prospects: Illawarra Hawks point guard LaMelo Ball, Memphis Tigers center James Wiseman, and Georgia Bulldogs shooting guard Anthony Edwards. If the Bulls were able to land any of those three top tier prospects in this draft class would be a major win for the rebuild heading into its fourth year.

But it’s not very likely that the Bulls will be able to have their pick of Ball, Edwards, and/or Wiseman unless they trade up into the top three.

A good bet on how the top of the draft order is starting to shake out is the Bulls lack of contact with Edwards. This might not be necessarily because they doubt him as a prospect, but just because they feel they won’t have a shot at getting him in the lottery.

The Bulls have reportedly had no contact with Edwards throughout the draft scouting process to date. Sure, they could still get in contact with him heading into draft night next week, but that probably wouldn’t mean a whole lot.

Recently hired executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas likely already has a primary draft strategy, and a few contingencies in place, and has for a while. If Edwards wasn’t already a part of the Bulls draft plan, then he likely won’t be from here on out.

Of any of the top three projected picks in this draft class, the Bulls are probably most certain to land Ball. But the prospect that looks to be getting the most traction with the Bulls in the four slot among recent mock drafts is the Maccabi Tel Aviv shooting guard/wing Deni Avdija.

The top three in this draft lottery (in order from top-to-bottom) includes the Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State Warriors, and Charlotte Hornets. The Bulls also hold the original Memphis Grizzlies 44th overall pick in the second round of this draft.