This Chicago Bulls front office, led by executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas, has whiffed on an indecent number of moves over its five seasons in charge -- though none of them compares to the $90 million extension it needlessly handed out to forward Patrick Williams. Even so, the No. 4 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft will look to shed his "bust" label this season with a fresh start in, at least assumedly, a new role.
With just about every physical tool in the bag, Williams was a high-upside swing by the Bulls despite having started zero games during his lone season at Florida State. That decision looks even more shaky in hindsight.
Somehow still just 24 years old, Williams holds career averages of 9.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists. His 211 starts over his five NBA seasons, in defiance of those below-pedestrian numbers, sum up the Bulls as a franchise since Karnisovas took over.
Hope springs eternal though, right? Maybe this is finally Williams' chance to shine.
Patrick Williams is (again) looking to resuscitate his NBA career
Karnisovas signed Williams to a five-year, $90 million contract extension in the summer of 2024 after a season in which the former Seminoles standout played in 43 games and averaged 10.0 points and 3.9 rebounds. In a vacuum, $18 million per season for a player with Williams' potential isn't the worst contract ever. The problem is that he hasn't turned that potential into any sort of production to justify the salary.
Across the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, Williams hit nearly 41 percent of his 3.4 3-point attempts per game. Couple that shooting improvement with his elite physical traits, and you get a young player on the rise. Unfortunately, that rise immediately turned to a fall.
Williams started the Bulls' first 15 contests last season and played 28.7 minutes per night. After missing 10 games due to injury, he started 20 of the next 21, but his minutes fell to 25.0. He only started once more the rest of the year and averaged fewer than 23 minutes. Matas Buzelis took control of the team's starting power forward spot and Williams was relegated to a much smaller role -- but that was a blessing in disguise for both franchise and player.
The five-year pro is far better suited to coming off the bench and playing fewer minutes. Best-case scenario, he makes a larger impact in short bursts, using his athleticism and 3-point stroke to exploit an opposing team's backups. Worst-case scenario, his lack of any impact at all is less noticeable in 15 minutes per game than it is in 25.
There's always a chance Williams becomes a serviceable or better player. With Buzelis entrenched in the starting lineup, Isaac Okoro arriving from Cleveland, the selection of Noa Essengue in the 2025 draft and a healthy Ayo Dosunmu likely anchoring the Bulls' reserves, maybe this is the year he settles into a more suitable position and finds some level of success.