The idea floating out there that the Chicago Bulls could win the interests of the Los Angeles Lakers superstar Anthony Davis are intriguing, but unlikely.
A conversation that started heating up in the midst of last season that has really slowed down of late is the idea of the Chicago Bulls going after the Los Angeles Lakers superstar big man Anthony Davis. The Chicago native AD mentioned in the midst of the 2019-20 campaign that he hadn’t ruled out a Windy City reunion at some point of his career.
But all that could mean is that the Bulls have a chance to sign AD when he’s nearing the end of his NBA career. And that time looks to be quite a ways down the road. Bulls fans shouldn’t put too much stock into any comments or speculation surrounding AD like that.
Although AD still hasn’t found a firm contract with the Lakers this offseason, it’s very likely that he will in the near future. He’s coming off a special NBA Championship run where he got his first ring playing alongside fellow superstar LeBron James with the Lakers. There’s not much of a valid reason for him to opt out and sign with another team at the moment.
There is an interesting point made by Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald in a piece released on the morning of Nov. 25. McGraw detailed on “why the Bulls need to call Anthony Davis right now” and what impact it could have on any future pursuit they could have with him.
Here’s more on what McGraw had to say on this matter.
"For roughly the past week, Anthony Davis has been an unrestricted free agent. He’s going to play for the Lakers this season, but he’s waiting to sign a new deal and pondering how the contract should be structured.As a free agent, Davis can listen to pitches from every team. Arturas Karnisovas should be calling. Marc Eversley should be calling. Billy Donovan should invite him to a socially-distanced lunch.With basically no hope of adding Davis this season, what can they even say to him? Well, introduce themselves, talk about how the Bulls are under new management, casually mention the Bulls can open roughly $40 million of cap space next season, for starters."
The main point of this piece in the Daily Herald does make sense that the Bulls should do all they can to win over the interests of AD for future free agent cycles. If AD only signs a one-year deal with the Lakers, then the Bulls could theoretically go after him in the next cycle of free agency. Depending on how competitive they look heading into the fourth year of the rebuild, maybe that is an idea that appeals more to AD come next offseason.
We can’t rule anything out in the midst of the crazy year of 2020 and with all that can happen between now and the end of the 2020-21 season.
If all of the changes that the Bulls made from the top-down within the organization this offseason, there is more reason for optimism moving forward. They hired former Denver Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas as the executive vice president of basketball operations. Karnisovas will replace John Paxson as the lead voice in the front office.
He then hired Marc Eversley to replace Gar Forman as the Bulls general manager. And another important move surfaced with the hire of former Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan to replace Jim Boylen as the Bulls bench boss.