The Chicago Bulls must clean house and officially kick off a franchise-wide rebuild. It's time for the front office to finally admit defeat on a team that's been mediocre for three years running, trade any veterans it can for future assets and start tanking to keep its 2025 first-round draft pick.
That means following up on recent trade rumors involving win-now players like Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic and Lonzo Ball. It means finding new homes for others who would be more valuable to playoff contenders than they are to Chicago, like Torrey Craig and Jevon Carter.
Those shouldn't necessarily be the only casualties of the Bulls' quest to rebuild, though. Here, separated by groups and in order, are the most tradeable players on Chicago's roster—and which of them, if any, are genuinely untradeable.
The "Get them out of here ASAP" group
This is the list of players mentioned above: LaVine, Vucevic and Ball, for starters, as they would bring back the largest and most useful returns.
LaVine is having a healthy, resurgent and All-Star season. The 29-year-old is averaging 24.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists, but he's also started 42 games and is shooting 51.1 percent from the field and 44.6 percent from three on 7.3 attempts per game.
Vucevic is another player whose value will likely never be higher. The veteran big man is averaging a double-double with 20.1 points and 10.3 rebounds, although that's not a massive outlier for the 34-year-old, who's consistently one of the best and most durable centers in the league.
However, the two-time All-Star is shooting a career-high 54.9 percent from the field and is hitting 39.8 percent of his shots from deep. With only one more season left on his deal, Chicago needs to cash in on Vucevic at some point in the next week.
Ball is also having a bounce-back season after missing two and a half years. Even if he's not the player he was in 2020, he's proving to be just as valuable and is working on a $21.4 million expiring contract.
Craig is still out with an ankle injury but should be back on the court fairly soon. He's proven, over the course of his career, to be a valuable 3-and-D bench player. Carter is one of the NBA's best point-of-attack defenders and can also knock down open triples.
All five of these players should be playing elsewhere on Feb. 7.
The "We'll listen to your offer" guys
This group begins with forward Patrick Williams, who arguably belongs in the group above. However, the Bulls just invested $90 million in a player who's still only 23 years old and has all the physical tools necessary to fill the attractive combo-forward role NBA teams covet.
But even in his fifth season, Williams hasn't found a way to become an impact player, and it's fair to wonder if he ever will. If Chicago gets a decent offer for their starting power forward, there's no reason not to immediately pull the trigger and cut bait.
Julian Phillips and Dalen Terry can be grouped together here as two young players with obvious and attractive skill sets. Phillips, only 21, is long, athletic and has shown the ability to knock down open threes. Terry, 22, is a 6-foot-7 guard/wing who can defend at least three positions and is improving as an offensive player. He's also a former first-round pick.
Talen Horton-Tucker is still somehow only 24 years old and has scored in bunches at times this season for the Bulls.
End-of-bench players and two-ways like Chris Duarte, Adama Sanogo, EJ Liddell and Emmanuel Miller fit here as well, but it's highly, highly unlikely Chicago gets any trade offers for them.
The "Thanks, but we're probably holding onto him" group
Perhaps the most controversial name on this list is Josh Giddey. The Australian is a 6-foot-8 point guard who's a savvy passer and fits snugly into the Bulls' up-tempo system. He can rebound, run the floor, find open teammates and be crafty finishing at the rim.
However, he's an awful on-ball defender, is a career 31.4 percent 3-point shooter and is due for what will be a large contract after the season. He's worth keeping for the rest of 2024-25 and figuring out what comes next this summer.
If or when LaVine leaves and he's still around, Coby White is the future focal point of Chicago's offense. He's an ideal combo guard who can score at all three levels as well as facilitate and run the offense.
His value contract runs out after next season, though, and barring any major catastrophes, he could very well land a nine-figure deal from someone. Is he good enough for the Bulls to commit to another massive, long-term contract?
Ayo Dosunmu fits under the same category, although he's not quite the player White is. What he is, though, is a very good defender at 6-foot-5 who is having a career season offensively. But like White, he'll have a solid raise coming in 2026-27, and the Bulls will need to decide if it's worth the money to keep him around, considering his inherent limitations as a player.
Backup center Jalen Smith has flown under the radar all season, but he's been one of Chicago's more valuable players. Once Vucevic moves on, he deserves to grab a starting spot and a significant jump in minutes.
Smith is still 24 years old, in the first year of a team-friendly three-year, $27 million contract and is averaging 19.3 points, 13.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per 36 minutes.
The Untouchable
Finally, we've arrived at the group of players who are completely off limits to other teams.
Except that group only consists of one player: Matas Buzelis.
Although he can't fully crack Head Coach Billy Donovan's rotation (which he should after the trade deadline assuming the Bulls actually do make some moves), he's shown enough glimpses of athleticism, defense, spot-up shooting and off-the-dribble shot creation at 6-foot-10 to project as a potential franchise centerpiece for Chicago going forward.
Like Smith, Buzelis' stats need to be extrapolated out to per-36 because of his confounding lack of playing time, but the 20-year-old lottery pick is averaging 13.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and a promising 2.2 blocks if examined in that frame.
Young players like White and Dosunmu will likely stick around for the next few seasons unless the Bulls are blown away by an offer. But Buzelis isn't going anywhere and he's the only totally untouchable player the franchise right now.