Chicago Bulls fans were undoubtedly conflicted on Saturday watching Ayo Dosunmu become the story the league for a night. The former Bull exploded for 43 points in the wake of both Donte DiVincenzo and Anthony Edwards being lost to injury, putting the Timberwolves on his back and leading his team to a stunning 3-1 lead against the Denver Nuggets.
That conflict was because Dosunmu was well-liked as a Bull, and fans want to see him succeed in a better situation. On the flipside, with every stellar Dosunmu game, the trade that sent him from Chicago to Minnesota ages a little worse. As a refresher, the Bulls sent him to the Wolves for Rob Dillingham, Leonard Miller, and four second-round picks.
Bulls fans were a little nihlistic on Saturday, and understandably so. It's not like Dosunmu had a coming out party the second he went to Minnesota and no one in Chicago saw it coming. He was playing awesome basketball for the Bulls all season long before they traded him! This version of Ayo who has emerged with the Timberwolves looks like the exact kind of backcourt mate the Bulls would love to pair with Josh Giddey. Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying.
I'm not fully ready to call this trade an all-time bad move. In two years, it might reach that level. But it's not like the Bulls got a bag of potato chips in return from the Wolves. Rob Dillingham might be a lost cause, but Leonard Miller showed enough in the final month of the season to, at the very least, give Bulls fans some hope this deal can be salvaged. He averaged 16 & 8 on great shooting numbers in April, albeit the fakest month of the NBA calendar, but he posted them nonetheless.
Leonard Miller might be the Bulls' last hope of salvaging Dosunmu trade
For the record, Leonard Miller is never going to score 43 points in a playoff game for the Chicago Bulls. If he does, I will change career paths because I would be willing to admit I have no idea what I'm talking about.
So, in that sense, the Bulls already "lost" the trade. Fans knew that the second they got a notification about the deal in February. And every time Dosunmu shows that he's a legit starting backourt option for a good team (which he'll need to be after an awful injury to their starter), the trade feels just a little bit worse.
We're on the precipice of this trade being down in infamy in Chicago, and Leonard Miller — whether he knows it or not — is suddenly under a lot of pressure to succeed. Sorry Leonard.
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