Chicago Bulls: 3 trades to get a first round draft pick

The hopes for the Chicago Bulls heading into the night of the 2021 NBA Draft Lottery were that this team could get back into the top four to get their first-round pick back. In the trade deadline day deal that got the Bulls star center Nikola Vucevic from the Orlando Magic, the front office had to ship off two first-round draft picks.

That deadline day deal back on March 25 also saw the Bulls send off third-year center Wendell Carter Jr. and veteran small forward Otto Porter Jr. for the return of Vooch and veteran forward Al-Farouq Aminu.

The Magic wound up getting the fifth slot from their own first-round pick in this lottery. And they got the eighth pick in the draft from the Bulls’ pick. That put the Magic in a similar position to what the lottery odds stacked up to be in one sense. But the Magic did get bumped down a few spots with their own pick compared to the original lottery odds order.

Proficient ways to get the Chicago Bulls in the first round?

This now leaves the Bulls with just one pick in the 2021 draft. They have the 38th overall pick in the second round of the draft. The last time that the Bulls held this pick was two years ago when the former front office regime of John Paxson and Gar Forman picked up the former Arkansas Razorbacks center Daniel Gafford.

There could still be value that the Bulls find with this second-round pick. But it does water down this draft for them that there’s no first-round draft pick. And the possibility does exist that Karnisovas and the Bulls trade up into the first round.

Here’s a look into three trades that the Bulls could make to get a first-round pick in this draft.