Monday, Michael Scotto of Hoops Hype reported the Minnesota Timberwolves declined former Chicago Bulls forward Julian Phillips’ $2.41 million club option on his contract, sending him into 2026 NBA unrestricted free agency. The Bulls attached Phillips in the 2026 NBA Trade Deadline deal to ship guard Ayo Dosunmu to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Minnesota Timberwolves will decline their $2.41 million team option on Julian Phillips and will not extend him a qualifying offer, thus making him an unrestricted free agent, league sources told @hoopshype.
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) June 29, 2026
Although Phillips is no longer a member of the Bulls franchise, his inability to finish his entire rookie contract is a profound statement about the scouting proclivities of the Bulls' former executive of basketball operations, Arturas Karnisovas.
Bulls fans around the globe should be rejoicing that Karnisovas’ penchant for drafting raw, unproven prospects is no longer the draft philosophy of your Chicago Bulls!
Phillips' time with the Bulls will go down in franchise history as barely a footnote. During the 2024-25 NBA season, Phillips' second NBA season, he ranked eighth on the roster in terms of total game minutes (1123) and never again played more than 1000 game minutes in a season.
All the while, Phillips averaged 3.2 points per game and shot 42.4% from the field in his 154 Chicago Bulls regular-season games in his career.
Julian Phillips, hopefully, is the caboose to a sad train of Karnisovas draft picks that started with forward Patrick Williams and center Marko Simonovic, and later joined by toolsy wing Dalen Terry.
Of course, Karnisovas’ draft wins are guard Ayo Dosunmu and the 2024 gift that is Matas Buzelis. Ultimately, the biggest hope for Bulls fans is that forward Noa Essengue breaks the AK generational curse of drafting ineffective wings.
The Bulls’ 2026 NBA draft process is ripe for fan gratitude
Karnisovas’ Bulls successor, Bryson Graham’s first Bulls draft has replenished hope in Bulls fans that the Bulls will have rookies that not only play real game minutes but will deliver real game impact in their rookie season.
Graham’s intentional scouting of Bulls guard Dailyn Swain has become public knowledge courtesy of Swain’s college head coach, Sean Miller, appearing in a radio interview on 104.3 The Score’s Rahimi, Harris, and Grote Show.
Out of the gate of the interview, Miller disclosed that Graham started scouting Swain during his freshman year of college while playing for Miller at Xavier University (Ohio). For context, Swain played three seasons of NCAA men’s basketball between Xavier University (Ohio) and the University of Texas.
It is refreshing to see a Bulls draft process operate with intention after six seasons of mostly curveball surprise draft picks that ultimately proved to be huge misses.
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