Chicago Bulls: 3 elite draft prospects worth tanking for

It is now time for the Chicago Bulls‘ new front office regime to start thinking about what the offseason could look like if this team manages to miss the playoffs. After going all out at the trade deadline back on March 25, executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley are now looking at a Bulls team that was one of the most disappointing in the Eastern Conference in the past five weeks.

Missing star shooting guard Zach LaVine for so much time post-trade deadline clearly hurt this Bulls team. But they were struggling to win under first-year head coach Billy Donovan in the past five weeks before LaVine had to miss time due to a violation of the league’s health and safety protocols.

The Bulls are playing well under .500 basketball since the trade deadline, and now are sitting at least 2.5-3 games behind both the Washington Wizards and divisional foe Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference standings for a spot in the play-in tournament later this month.

Chicago Bulls struggling when it matters most

Following another bad loss to the Giannis Antetokounmpo-less Milwaukee Bucks at home at the United Center on the night of April 30, the Bulls now hold a record of 26-37. It is a must for the Bulls, if they want to play any part in the race to land a spot in the play-in tournament in the final weeks of the regular season, that they get a win over star point guard Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks on the road on May 1.

But it doesn’t feel like that is a game that the Bulls could, or will, win on May 1. The Bulls were doing well last week for a while but now hold a two-game losing streak from defeats at the hands of the Bucks and New York Knicks in the past three days.

It does feel like it might be time for Karnisovas and the Bulls to consider what it could look like if they do have a lottery pick in this year’s draft. That might not be out of the question since their 2021 first-round draft pick that they shipped off to the Magic to land star big man Nikola Vucevic was top-four protected.

Here’s a look into three 2021 NBA Draft prospects worth tanking for down the stretch if the Bulls can’t get it together soon.