A rumor has surfaced that the Chicago Bulls were willing to trade anything the Dallas Mavericks wanted to land Luka Doncic. It's admittedly far from surprising to hear that a franchise was ready to go all-in on one of the best players in the world.
The revelation of what the Bulls were willing to offer, however, reveals an unfortunate and inherent truth about the how bad things had gotten in Chicago before the trade deadline.
The Bulls finished the 2024-25 regular season at 39-43 before ultimately falling to the Miami Heat in the Play-In Tournament. Chicago went 15-5 over its final 20 games, however, thus instilling faith in the future. For as true as that may be, the Doncic rumor is a reminder of how disappointing the outlook previously was.
According to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times, the Bulls would've offered every asset at their disposal to acquire Doncic from the Mavericks.
"A source told the Sun-Times that Karnisovas and his front office would have offered anyone and everyone on the roster had they been notified by the Mavericks that Luka Doncic was available in February..."
The unfortunate truth: Even if Dallas had asked Chicago for its best offer, it's difficult to imagine a scenario in which the Bulls could've provided enough to land Doncic.
Bulls would've offered anything for Luka Doncic. Would it have mattered?
Even before it completed the Zach LaVine trade, Chicago had an abundance of future first-round draft picks it could've offered to Dallas. Perhaps that would've gotten the deal over the finish line, as it was on pace to have at least one pick in every class between 2026 and 2031.
In pursuit of Doncic, the Bulls' best offer likely would've centered around some combination of Matas Buzelis, Ayo Dosunmu, Josh Giddey, LaVine, Coby White, and first-round picks in 2027, 2029, and 2031.
For as intriguing as that combination of assets may have been, it remains unlikely that it would've been enough to land Doncic. LaVine's contract was a challenging sell, and though promising, the other players hadn't been featured enough in Chicago to establish their true potential.
Keep in mind: The actual LaVine trade ended up being a three-team deal in which the Bulls received three role players and a first-round pick—with the latter being more of a thank you from the San Antonio Spurs for helping them land De'Aaron Fox from the Sacramento Kings.
The silver lining, however, is that the Bulls are in a phenomenal position to erase the sadness over what they would've been able to offer to the Mavericks.
Bulls are recovering well from years of mediocrity
Chicago has finally embraced the need for a new direction. It has at least one first-round pick in every future draft, including the No. 12 overall selection in 2025. Furthermore, every player in the group of Buzelis, Dosunmu, Giddey, and White are 25 or younger—and sharpshooting starter Kevin Huerter is only 26.
As such, rather than hyper-fixating on a trade that was never going to materialize, Chicago must look to the bright future they've created for themselves. They have a talented group of players on the roster, as well as an abundance of draft picks that can be utilized to fix past mistakes or even build meaningful trade offers.
Every team would've been willing to go all-in on Doncic, but the Bulls must accept the reality of where they are and embrace how promising the future can be if they stay the course.