Chicago Bulls: 3 players that should see their minutes decline in 2020-21

1) Chicago Bulls that could see their minutes decline

The way that the lengthy 6-foot-7 and 210 pound 29-year-old combo guard Tomas Satoransky played efficiently off the bench for the Bulls through two preseason games thus far could inspire confidence from the coaching staff by putting him in a sixth man role.

The different for Sato this season compared to last will be that White is likely to assume the starting point guard role. White only got one start last season, which came in the de facto regular season finale (in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic). Sato essentially held the sixth man role behind White in this rotation through two preseason games. And that role is likely to continue for him.

While it’s not necessarily the worst thing for Sato to hold the sixth man role, he is getting paid a lot to do that over the next two years (roughly $10 million per year). Karnisovas and Eversley might find it is the best move to get some value out of Sato on the trade market, similar to how they might treat the situation with Kornet or Young (which forms the trio of GarPax’s 2019 free agent signings).

During the shortened 2019-20 regular season, Sato played in all 65 games for the Bulls (all but one of which he started in). And he averaged 9.9 points per game, 3.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.1 blocks. Sato shot 43.0 percent from the field, 32.2 percent from beyond the arc, and 87.6 percent from the free-throw line.

Since Sato did get so many starts last season for the Bulls, and averaged roughly 29 minutes per game, his role and overall playing time is just naturally going to fall this season since White is likely going to start over him.