The Chicago Bulls' trade deadline was questionable, but at least kind of defensible. After Jaden Ivey’s DNP-CD and disturbing injury issues, though, it’s becoming impossible to view this as anything other than a failure.
You could squint and see the thinking behind these decisions. Bulls executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas moved his most valuable expiring contracts in Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Nikola Vucevic with an eye toward finally building for the future.
He set Chicago up for success by acquiring a boatload of second-round picks and taking some low-cost, high-reward fliers. The Bulls' unbalanced roster should rack up plenty of losses over the season's last few months, moving the franchise into prime lottery-pick territory (hopefully).
But the coaching staff's infuriating dedication to winning, coupled with Ivey's injury problems that are far worse than fans believed, is making it difficult to find even the slightest logic in what was already a puzzling series of deals.
Jaden Ivey injury news makes Bulls trade deadline even more alarming
The most recent Jaden Ivey injury update just made what was already a disappointing trade deadline even more depressing.
The newly acquired guard will miss at least the next two weeks with left knee soreness, per Joel Lorenzi ofThe Athletic.
Ivey and 21-year-old Rob Dillingham were the gems of Karnisovas's deadline acquisitions. Ivey is only 24 and was having a breakout 2024-25 campaign before fracturing his fibula last January. He then underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in October.
Still, what's the risk in bringing in a young, high-upside player who could be a key piece of the future? Especially when he'll be a restricted free agent at the end of the season and would be, therefore, quite retainable?
Well, we may have just found out why.
Bulls trade deadline has gone from bad to worse ... to worse
Any move Karnisovas makes will draw plenty of skeptics. But the totality of his decisions leading up to Feb. 5 seems to be getting worse by the day.
In addition to Ivey getting exactly zero minutes in the loss to Toronto — before he hit the injury report — Dillingham was buried on the bench and only played 10 minutes. Josh Giddey and Tre Jones returned from injury to play 21 and 22 minutes, respectively.
Anfernee Simons and Collin Sexton, both of whom have hit their ceilings as players, appeared for 31 and 15 minutes.
(Patrick Williams played 27 minutes, which could take the award for most ludicrous thing the Bulls have done all season, which is truly saying something.)
All of this serves as a sobering reminder that even when this front office finally makes an intelligent decision, it finds a way to screw it up anyway.