Their season ended in humiliation, but the 2024-25 campaign wasn't all bad for the Chicago Bulls.
Josh Giddey and Coby White went a long way toward cementing themselves as the franchise's backcourt of the future. Matas Buzelis flashed star potential as a two-way combo forward with exceptional positional size. White is the oldest of that trio at just 25.
The Bulls are taking a slow, painful, one-step-forward, two-steps-back route, but they are collecting some foundational pieces as they try to rebuild while remaining (somewhat, if stupidly) competitive.
One of the most consequential moves Chicago VP of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas made this year was forcing the long-overdue exit of star scorer Zach LaVine. The Bulls had been trying to deal LaVine for over 18 months, but it took a resurgent All-Star-caliber season from the 29-year-old for Karnisovas to finally find a willing dance partner in the Sacramento Kings.
The return in any LaVine trade was never going to be of significant value, but the Bulls received their own first-round pick back, which allows them to access any of their first-round picks between now and 2031, whether those become players or trade ammunition.
They also landed what, on first glance, appeared to be simple salary filler in Zach Collins, Kevin Huerter and Tre Jones, but each served an important role in head coach Billy Donovan's rotation at different points of the season.
Now, those three, along with veteran center Nikola Vucevic, give Karnisovas some extra freedom to at least clear cap space if not acquire extra draft capital or young players. With Chicago's season over, those plans can start immediately.
Vucevic, Huerter, Collins already on the trade block for Bulls
Jones came to Chicago on a $9 million expiring contract and will likely move on this offseason. Huerter and Collins have one more year left on their respective deals at about $18 million a piece, and Vucevic is entering the final season of his contract at $21.5 million.
As ESPN cap guru Bobby Marks explains, the Bulls now have to make a decision: Find trade partners for those three veterans and their expiring deals or hold onto them, play out another season and open cap space next summer in the hopes that a high-level free agent becomes available and wants to play in Chicago.
"You're still kind of in that in-between stage where you're not one or two spots away from competing with the top six or top five," Marks said. "So, who are you as far as taking contracts, or do you want to go into the cap space game in 2026? That's probably not a way I want to go. ... Build up your draft equity and parlay those players into more draft equity; that's the end goal."
Marks's plan makes sense. Even if all Karnisovas can get in return for this trio is a handful of second-round picks, at least that's a handful more opportunities to land a diamond in the rough later in the draft or a handful more assets to include in a trade.
It's important to remember Giddey is about to get paid some serious cash in free agency and White will be due for a significant raise after next year. Not only will unloading any or all of Vucevic, Huerter and Collins open up more cap space, but grabbing a few role players on rookie contracts will keep more of that space available.
Dealing these three vets—and potentially others—is the most logical roster-building decision the Bulls can make. Unfortunately, Karnisovas rarely seems to make the most logical decision.