The NBA’s offseason will orbit around Giannis Antetokounmpo. (It kind of already is.) The Milwaukee Bucks lost their opening-round playoff series for the third straight season, so the “Will Giannis finally demand a trade?” question will only increase in volume. And for reasons unbeknownst to anyone who follows the Bulls, Chicago has already been mentioned as a potential destination.
Antetokounmpo is just as likely to move home to Greece and continue his professional career there as he is to demand a trade to The Windy City.
It’s not that Chicago isn’t a destination city. It’s one of the largest markets in sports. And it’s not because the Bulls and Bucks are division rivals. The franchise’s sad unattractiveness runs deeper.
Chicago Bulls have little to offer to superstars or other franchises
The Bulls have an ownership group that seems perfectly content to collect revenue but not pay what's required to build a championship-contending roster. The organization has only paid the luxury tax twice since 2001, despite leading the NBA in attendance in 7 of the last 11 years, per Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune.
If Antetokounmpo wants to leave Milwaukee to join a team ready to win a title, why would he bother with a franchise not willing to pay the literal price?
Then there's the act of building a trade package good enough to entice the Bucks. That deal would have to start with Coby White, Matas Buzelis and a slew of first-round draft picks. As one of the Bulls' best players, Josh Giddey would likely be part of any deal. Then what does Chicago have to offer? Ayo Dosunmu? Julian Phillips? Dalen Terry?
The roster is far too barren and devoid of young talent to even get Milwaukee General Manager Jon Horst to stay on the phone. And if, by some miracle, a trade like that did go through, who's left to help Antetokounmpo make a run? Even one of the best basketball players on the planet couldn't drag Patrick Williams and Nikola Vucevic to a championship.
The idea of Giannis considering Chicago as a possible trade destination is ludicrous. That he would consider the Bulls an organization capable of winning an NBA title is just plain absurd.