Chicago Bulls: Our attempt at being AKME this offseason on Spotrac

The Chicago Bulls didn’t have the regular season many hoped for or expected after the mid-season roster overhaul. They had a 12-17 record down the stretch, good for 20th in the league over that span. This makes four straight years of no playoffs and the fifth time in six seasons. A cold turn after making the postseason seven straight times and 10 times in 11 years.

Spotrac.com’s ‘roster manager’ tool puts you in control of your favorite franchise. For our purposes, that’s Vice President of Basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and General Manager Marc Eversley.

The Bulls are one of the more challenging groups to tinker with, thanks to their wheelings and dealings at the trade deadline.

Act as Chicago Bulls executives Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley with Spotrac’s ‘roster manager’ tool

More from Free Agency

• Lakers steal Bulls last chance at a free agency splash
• Bulls pipe dream free agent target inks $48 million deal with Hornets
• Bulls News: Promising former first-rounder hits free agency
• Offseason Report Card: Bulls get an A, three Bs and a C for summer moves
• Terry Taylor signing indicates lack of faith from Bulls management

Users can still take re-sign and cut players, renounce cap-holds, buyout contracts,  and make trades as they see fit.

They even have access to the mid-level exception, which in the Bulls case is worth $9.5 million for the non-taxpayer version (which is likely earmarked for 2020 second-round pick Marko Simonovic) and about $3.7 million for the bi-annual exception, in whatever way they see fit.

However, it might be safe to assume 2020 second-round pick Marko Simonivic will get the Bulls MLE

The first thing you notice is the Bulls start off under the minimum roster size requirements. The first move was to guarantee Thad Young’s salary for next season along with declining Ryan Arcidiacono’s $3 million option.

Renouncing Cristiano Felicio and Denzel Valentine “frees” over $23 million.

After that, it’s on to Daniel Theis and Garrett Temple. Theis outplayed his $5 million salary from last year, but if his next deal is in the neighborhood of his $9.5 million cap hold, the Bulls could try creating sap space to retaining him. But he’s expected to have plenty of suitors so that may be unlikely. Temple is more cut-and-dry.

Aside from several free-agent reserves, leaves just the decision on restricted free agent Lauri Markkanen.

The most obvious thing to try is sign-and-trade Markkanen so the Bulls don’t lose him without anything to show for it. But those have historically been hard to come by for a number of reasons.

Lonzo Ball is also a restricted free agent. New Orleans has little use for Markkanen, who is a stretch-four only, with Zion Williamson so that’s extra moves that need to be made. Still, even fans of Ball might bristle at the thought of committing $100 million to him.

Dejounte Murray is making just under $15.5 million this season and is owed roughly $50 million over the next three years.

San Antonio is also reportedly interested in Markkanen, and he is friends with fellow Washington native, Zach LaVine. And with reports that he would sign with the Spurs for close to what Murray makes would seem to make for smooth dealing.

Simonovic isn’t in the roster manager, so in this fantasy example (heavy emphasis on the ‘fantasy part’), Theis’ foray into free agency didn’t yield the desired outcome so he returned for the MLE. Chicago’s actual decisions will be very different.

Also note this is just a beta version so it’s not perfect, though still a lot of fun.

The biggest takeaway from using it was an overall feeling of how critical this offseason is, just one year into the AKME regime. They don’t have a first-round selection in this years’ draft (or 2023) as it stands thanks to the trades. And their best player, Zach LaVine is due for a raise next offseason and has been vocal about wanting to win. What would you do?