Chicago Bulls: 4 key players to build around this offseason

Speculation will run rampant this offseason in regard to who the Chicago Bulls will prioritize in their newfound core. After so much remodeling to the Bulls young core since the new front office regime took over, the faces of the franchise also shifted. Executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley do still have a lot of work to do this offseason.

The busiest time of the year up to this point for Karnisovas and Eversley was the trade deadline. Nearly two months ago, the Bulls dramatically changed the course of this rebuild by putting this roster into more of a win now mode. A few of the trades made back on deadline day on March 25 will be very consequential for the Bulls.

Whether that is a positive or negative consequential we don’t know yet.

Chicago Bulls built a foundation for the offseason

What we do know is that the Bulls are in a better spot to contend for a playoff spot, and make a solid postseason run, heading into the 2021-22 campaign than they were in any of the four previous years. The Bulls do have a solid star duo to form the rest of their roster around now, which was something the franchise was seeking out under the former front office pairing of John Paxson and Gar Forman.

The Bulls wound up finishing up the 2020-21 regular season with a record of 31-41 under first-year head coach Billy Donovan. They also missed out on the postseason for the fourth straight year. But hopefully, brighter days are ahead for the Bulls.

Here’s a look into the four key pieces of the new core to build around this offseason.