The name of the game for Artūras Karnišovas ahead of the trade deadline was extracting draft capital from players on expiring contracts while retaining future salary cap flexibility. And, for the most part, it was achieved.
The Chicago Bulls parted ways with Ayo Dosunmu, Coby White, Dalen Terry, Emanuel Miller, Julian Phillips, Kevin Huerter, and Nikola Vučević, while also waiving Jevon Carter—all on expiring contracts. In return, Chicago received Anfernee Simons, Collin Sexton, Guerschon Yabusele, Jaden Ivey, Leonard Miller, Nick Richards, and Rob Dillingham, with only three of those players carrying salary beyond this season.
A minor trade that raised eyebrows
Those three players are Yabusele, Ivey, and Dillingham, though each comes with an asterisk. Ivey is an impending restricted free agent, meaning he is technically on an expiring contract, but Chicago retains the right to match any offer he receives. Dillingham, meanwhile, is only 21, making this move more about adding a high-upside talent rather than managing his contract situation.
Yabusele, on the other hand, is the oldest of the group at 30-years-old. Chicago also sent out Terry, who, as previously mentioned, was on an expiring contract, in exchange for Yabusele, who was not an impending free agent. He signed a two-year, $11.3 million deal with the New York Knicks in the offseason, with the second year including a player option. In other words, Chicago traded Terry for a player projected to make nearly $6 million next season.
It was certainly an odd decision by Karnišovas, who had made it clear he wanted to preserve financial flexibility. Why not simply keep Terry? Or, considering Yabusele appeared to be an upcoming cap casualty in New York, why not extract draft capital from a salary-cap-strapped Knicks team? At the time, the move didn’t appear to make much sense, at least until Yabusele’s amended contract was revealed after the trade.
Yabusele’s clever contract twist
Guerschon Yabusele amended his contract and no longer has a player option for next season, sources confirm. He's going to be an unrestricted FA after this year, which takes some money off the Bulls cap sheet for 2026
— Will Gottlieb (@Will_Gottlieb) February 5, 2026
Yabusele’s contract was amended to remove the player option, making him an unrestricted free agent in the 2026 offseason. There had already been some speculation that the Frenchman could decline his option and depart overseas this summer. Now, that outcome appears far more likely.
After a five-year hiatus from the NBA, Yabusele returned in 2024–25, signing a one-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers. He thrived in Philadelphia, averaging 11.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.5 made three-pointers per game, a performance that earned him the subsequent two-year deal with the Knicks.
However, Yabusele struggled in New York, averaging just 8.9 minutes per game and seeing his production dip to 2.7 points and 2.1 rebounds. Still, there’s reason to believe he can regain some of his lost value in Chicago, considering how impactful he was in Philadelphia. And with his amended contract, he now has the freedom to decide whether to continue pursuing his NBA career this summer or return to Europe.