NBA trade season kicked off in earnest on Dec. 15, which is meaningful to the Chicago Bulls on multiple fronts.
One, they have several veterans they should offload as the franchise continues to slowly lean into a full rebuild. Those include Lonzo Ball, Nikola Vucevic, Torrey Craig and Jevon Carter, among others.
One of those others is Zach LaVine, who Chicago has been looking to trade for more than a year. Report after report after report over the last few months only confirmed that the 29-year-old had little to no value across the league. His injury history and overwhelming contract made him an unwanted commodity.
That changed on Dec. 17 when news broke that the Denver Nuggets hold interest in LaVine as they search for a scoring wing to take some of the offensive burden off of three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.
With several trade chips of differing values on the table and a roster retooling to accelerate, the Bulls also need to be looking at the draft, whether it's acquiring more picks for the future or concentrating on their selection in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Chicago isn't even guaranteed to have its pick come June, but working under the assumption that the organization finds a way to hold onto it, here are a few different ways the Bulls could go, according to draft experts.
Bulls Mock Draft Roundup: Duke's Kon Knueppel the common pick
Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report released his most recent mock on Dec. 17, with Chicago barely hanging onto its selection and grabbing Duke wing Kon Knueppel with the No. 10 pick.
Knueppel is a 6-foot-7, 217-pound wing rated as the No. 18 prospect in the class of 2024 by 247Sports. Through 11 games with the Blue Devils this season, he's averaging 11.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists.
The Wisconsin native is shooting just 32.3 percent from three on 5.6 attempts per game, but his high school numbers, good-looking stroke and 95.2 percent shooting from the free-throw line comfortably point to a knockdown shooter at the college and pro levels.
Knueppel has been Duke's most consistent player outside of projected No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg and is the second-leading scorer in Durham. His near 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, pick-and-roll ballhandling skills, basketball IQ and legitimate forward size also make him a unique threat as a playmaker.
He won't wow anyone with his athleticism, but Knueppel has a high floor as a big, smart shooter and offensive fulcrum.
Knueppel could form an interchangeable forward duo with last year's lottery pick Matas Buzelis. Buzelis' explosive athleticism and length would pair well with Knueppel's shooting and floor leadership.
The Draft Digest Staff at Sports Illustrated also has the Bulls landing Knueppel, helping cement the idea that NBA scouts see him as a top-10 pick just a few months into the NCAA season. Being the second-best player on a team with a generational draft prospect like Flagg isn't so bad, and the fit with Knueppel and Chicago makes sense.
Bulls 2025 NBA Draft: Worst-case scenario
As an extra layer to Chicago's draft predicament this summer, it's worth noting that Kyle Boone of CBS Sports doesn't have the Bulls landing a top-10 selection at all.
This is the absolute nightmare scenario: Somehow, Chicago backs into the Play-In Tournament again, their pick heads to San Antonio and the Spurs grab a prospect the Bulls desperately need to add to their roster.
In Boone's mock, that's Texas freshman wing Tre Johnson, a 6-foot-6 18-year-old averaging nearly 20 points per game and shooting better than 43 percent from three.
Of Johnson, Boone writes, "He's someone who can score it from all three levels as a certified flamethrower dating back to his time in high school and that has translated well in his freshman season at Texas."
If there's a glaring hole on Chicago's current roster, it's a long, athletic 3-point shooting wing. If the Bulls miss out on their first-round pick and someone they could've landed, like Johnson, turns out to be a solid NBA starter, the franchise's rebuild would have taken an enormous step back.