Patrick Williams is only 24 years old. He's a year younger than Coby White and Ayo Dosumnu, who are both considered part of the Bulls' future. But Williams is still viewed as a player who is already over the hill, and a guy who won't give the team much more than he's already given, leading to a big swath of the fan base being ready to finally part ways with Williams.
I don't think most fans expect a big return for the forward; he's in the second year of a five-year, $90 million contract, and his production (7.6 points per game) surely doesn't match that average salary. Really, finding a trade partner for Williams would be a success because at this point, it mostly feels like Williams is playing so much just to try and justify his large contract.
But it's a clear case of the sunk cost fallacy — the Bulls don't want to admit that they messed up giving Williams this deal, so they keep playing him, but that hurts the team even more.
Bulls fans are ready to move on from Patrick Williams
I think a majority of Bulls fans have been cheering for Williams to finally be a consistent contributor like he's been tantalizingly to becoming for years. But at this point, continuing to run Williams out there every night just feels pointless, for both Williams and the team.
We know Williams won't be able to maximize his talent in Chicago. However much blame he shoulders for that depends on who you ask (I think he was given unfair expectations from the start, but also never seemed too interested in finding a role that better suited him).
So, here we are again. If any inquiring teams out there are interested in Williams, they can probably have him. But who exactly would be interested in taking him off the Bulls' hands? Teams in a full rebuild don't want to add over $60 million in salary unless they get some serious draft compensation back, and contending teams probably don't have the resources to match salary without giving up important players. It would take some crafty front office work to convince a team to acquire Williams.