The Washington Wizards made the first major move of NBA Trade Season 2026 when they acquired Trae Young from the Atlanta Hawks. The deal made plenty of sense for Washington, and it would have made plenty of sense for the Bulls -- except, in classic Artūras Karnišovas fashion, Chicago failed to take the swing.
All Washington gave up for Young -- a four-time All-Star and one of the most skilled guards in the league -- were C.J. McCollum's expiring contract and Corey Kispert, a high-level role player at best.
But the Wizards got more than just Young the player. They got Young the asset. And they opened up several attractive roster-building avenues along with him -- the exact same ones Karnišovas could have had if he wasn't too afraid to accept the risk.
The Bulls once again failed to make the obvious move
Karnisovas waited too long to trade DeMar DeRozan. Then he waited too long to trade Zach LaVine. Now he's waiting too long to trade Nikola Vucevic.
He has almost $60 million in expiring contracts between Vucevic, Kevin Huerter and Zach Collins. He has access to all of his own first-round picks should he decide to make an addition rather than a subtraction.
Coby White will be in demand over the next few weeks. Karnišovas can either trade him now for something or try to re-sign him (likely overpay him) in free agency and rob himself of even more assets.
He had every reason to trade for Young. But he didn't.
Trae Young trade would've been brilliant for Chicago
As a high-volume, heavy-usage scorer, Young's fit on a rebuilding Wizards team flush with young talent is questionable. But a deeper analysis shows the potential positives outweigh the potential negatives.
As NBA insider Jake Fischer writes on The Stein Line Substack (subscription required), the Wizards are set to have about $80 million of available cap space this summer, so they could easily fit Young's salary into the mix.
The Bulls are projected to have the most cap space in the NBA.
Washington can afford to be patient and let Young rebuild his value before potentially flipping him for more than they sent to Atlanta.
The Bulls are stuck in NBA purgatory, not good enough to make a playoff run but not bad enough to earn a high lottery pick. Young won't move them much in either direction.
Fischer points out that the Wizards are a dull franchise with no real attraction to put fans in the seats. While Chicago regularly sells out the United Center, there's no superstar worth watching.
Substitute "Bulls" for "Wizards" in the above paragraphs, and not a thing changes. The only difference is that Washington was willing to take a risk, which, in reality, isn't much of a risk. Karnišovas, meanwhile, is still sitting on his hands, refusing to make any decision at all.