One of the early departures among the sign-and-trade deals that the Chicago Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley pulled off this summer was combo guard Tomas Satoransky. The lengthy 6-foot-7 and 210-pound 29-year-old Czech guard Sato was a member of the Bulls for two signings.
As one of the last major signings made out of free agency from the former front office regime of John Paxson and Gar Forman, the writing was on the wall that Karnisovas and Eversley would let him walk before too long. While they made some meaningful contributions for the Bulls last season under the new Karnisovas and Eversley front office regime, Sato and veteran forward Thaddeus Young were both still traded this summer.
The Bulls shipped out Sato in the sign-and-trade deal last month with the New Orleans Pelicans that netted them restricted free agent and point guard Lonzo Ball. This did seem like a necessary move, though, for the Bulls to move this team in the right direction.
Above all else, the Bulls needed help at the point guard position this summer. And that need was addressed in a way that provides a solution over the long haul with Lonzo taking over as the point guard of the future.
Arturas Karnisovas gives briefs departing message for Tomas Satoransky’s exit from the Chicago Bulls
Nonetheless, it feels like the departure was brief and a bit cutthroat between the Bulls’ front office and Sato.
Tomas Satoransky on his farewell with the Bulls: pic.twitter.com/7YFzuIJnOk
— Lukas Kuba (@Luke_Mellow) September 11, 2021
Sato reportedly said that the departing message he got from Karnisovas was just a text message saying “thank you for your time in Chicago”. You usually would get a bit more of a heartfelt message from the front office for a previously valued rotation player like Sato.
Granted, the NBA is still a business, and digging too deep into this sometimes is just not worth it. Sato seemed to not take this too personally, but he did mention that after “years of hard work it’s actually brutal” with the way he left Chicago. It isn’t difficult to see why he feels that way either.
Sato did play an integral role in the Bulls’ backcourt rotation under two different coaching regimes in his last two seasons in Chicago. In his two seasons with the Bulls, Sato averaged 8.9 points per game, 3.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.2 blocks.
Seeing through two very different coaching regimes and front offices in the Windy City in the last couple of seasons, Sato remained resilient as he often transitioned between a reserve role and one in the starting five. He often switched with point guard Coby White as to who played at the one in the starting unit.