The now ex-Chicago Bulls front office regime took a beating from the media for their trade deadline decisions, and it’s only gotten worse. Now—somehow—it’s about to get even more embarrassing.
Because Ayo Dosunmu is ready to play a crucial role for the Minnesota Timberwolves in what could become the most intriguing series of this year’s NBA playoffs.
Coby White’s starring role for the Charlotte Hornets was already a bad look. Former executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and GM Marc Eversley sent a playoff hero packing in exchange for three second-round picks and a smattering of veterans on their way out of Chicago.
Now it's Dosunmu’s turn to re-break the hearts of Bulls fans.
Bulls trade deadline failures are about to be in the spotlight again
The return package Chicago got for Dosunmu was solid relative to its other deals. The four second-round picks Karnisovas extracted from Minnesota were the most draft capital he received in any of his seven trades. Rob Dillingham and Leonard Miller should stick in the Windy City, at least for next season.
But Dosunmu has already proven that trade was a failure.
In 24 games with the Timberwolves, the Chicago native averaged 14.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists and a steal while shooting a career-high 52.1 percent from the field. He was third in points per game and assists per game for Minnesota post-deadline.
But, just as with White, the Bulls couldn’t even land a first-round pick for someone about to play a meaningful role in a playoff series.
Bulls’ new leadership must learn from previous regime’s mistakes
The head of basketball operations job in the Windy City isn’t a bad gig. It comes with two top-15 picks in a stacked 2026 NBA Draft — three in the first 38 if you include the second-rounder Karnisovas acquired in the Nikola Vucevic trade. That’s a good start.
The Bulls also have control of all their future firsts and 13 seconds over the next seven years. They’re projected to have more than $60 million in cap space this summer, the most in the league. Matas Buzelis is a future all-star, and Josh Giddey is no slouch of a point guard.
It’s an opportunity to start just about from scratch and rebuild one of the NBA’s premier franchises.
But none of that will matter if the new GM squanders those assets with ugly decisions — giving away an elite role player like Ayo Dosunmu, for instance.
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