While Las Vegas Summer League may be on the front burner for the Chicago Bulls' summer 2026 agenda, NBA free agency is still a back-burner consideration for the Bulls, as they still carry one open main roster spot.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks published an NBA free agency update column on Friday, and among the many details included in the column, Marks restated ESPN’s reporting on a meeting between unrestricted free agent forward Jonathan Kuminga, Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick, and Lakers vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka to pitch a Lakers role to Kuminga.
The 10 unresolved storylines of the offseasonhttps://t.co/48P5jHmlJr
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 10, 2026
According to Marks’ reporting, the Lakers have used all of their available salary cap space in their 2026 NBA free agency transactions, and this scenario creates an ideal opportunity for the Bulls to become a third team facilitator to a Jonathan Kuminga sign-and-trade deal between the Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Lakers.
The motivation for the Bulls to participate in this sort of deal would be less likely about acquiring surplus future draft capital, as the Lakers are a bottom-tier team as it relates to their collection of draft assets.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Hawks have the option of simply doing nothing as it relates to Kuminga’s status since their decision to decline his $24.3 million team option for the 2026-27 NBA season is why Kuminga is currently an unrestricted free agent in the first place.
A more appropriate motivation for the Bulls to insert themselves into facilitating a Jonathan Kuminga sign-and-trade transaction is to fill their 15th main roster spot and add more shooting to their roster.
Hypothesizing Bulls return from a Kuminga sign-and-trade deal
Obviously, the core transaction of this deal is to move Jonathan Kuminga to the Los Angeles Lakers.
To enable this trade, the Bulls can bring both their $9.4 million room mid-level exception and $18 million traded player exception (TPE), created by trading Kevin Huerter to the Detroit Pistons during the 2026 NBA trade deadline, to the Hawks-Lakers trade table.
The Bulls could absorb Lakers forward Dalton Knecht’s rookie-scale contract into their room mid-level exception to provide the Lakers more cap flexibility to sign Kuminga to a three-year $45 million guaranteed contract.
To incentivize the Hawks to participate in a Kuminga sign-and-trade transaction, the Bulls could also absorb Hawks forward Corey Kispert’s $13.5 million average annual value salary into their Kevin Huerter TPE.
The Hawks in this scenario would receive Bulls guard Isaac Okoro, an $11.8 million expiring contract, and Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt’s contract that pays him $12.4 million for the 2026-27 NBA season and a $13.3 million player option for the 2027-28 NBA season, the final year of his contract.
Additionally, the Hawks would receive $4.7 million in cap flexibility, according to Spotrac, and effectively turn Corey Kispert’s two remaining guaranteed contract seasons into two guaranteed seasons of a defensive upgrade in Vanderbilt.
As for the Bulls, they would add two shooters to their bench depth at reasonable costs, with team options to use as escape hatches if needed: Knecht’s team option is on the 2027-28 NBA season, and Kispert’s team option is on the 2028-29 NBA season.
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