The Bulls' confusing offseason has already cost them a golden opportunity

With the start of the 2024-25 NBA season a little over three months away, the Chicago Bulls are one of several teams already looking ahead to the 2025 NBA Draft and a chance to land Cooper Flagg in a star-studded class.

In order to have any chance of landing Flagg, the Bulls have to keep their 2025 first-round draft pick which is top-10 protected. If it lands outside the top-10, the pick will go to the San Antonio Spurs as a part of the 2021 sign-and-trade for DeMar DeRozan.

Remaining comitted to competiting for the playoffs the last several seasons, the Bulls have wasted several opportunities to start a rebuild when they should have. Passing on multiple opportunities to trade players including Alex Caruso and DeRozan, Chicago lost numerous chances at draft picks.

In late June, the Bulls would start moving towards a rebuild, trading two-time All-Defensive guard Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Josh Giddey, recieving no picks back in the trade. The Bulls would make the smart decision of helping DeMar DeRozan get to the Sacramento Kings via a sign-and-trade that would land them two second-round picks and Chris Duarte instead of overpaying him to remain in the Windy City.

Chicago has added several young pieces to the team so far this offseason in addition to their trades. The biggest addition would be Matas Buzelis, who fell to the Bulls with the 11th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. Buzlies showed out during summer league, averaging 16.4 PPG and 4.2 RPG in five games, with some already saying he may be the steal of the draft. The Bulls would also sign DJ Steward to a two-way contract following his play during the Summer League and sign free agent Jalen Smith to a three-year deal.

Do the Chicago Bulls have a chance at Cooper Flagg?

While they've made moves towards a rebuild, their chances of landing Cooper Flagg are not great. The Bulls still have Zach Lavine and Nikola Vucevic who can both contribute to winning but both also have hard-to-move contracts. Reports earlier in July suggested the Bulls could look to move Vucevic if DeMar left Chicago, but the team has not been able to find a trade partner for the big man. Lavine's contract remains the biggest domino to fall for the Bulls in order to fully rebuild, but rumors suggest a new team could be interested in Lavine.

While the Bulls have lost significant offensive and defense with the absences of DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso, respectively, the team could finish outside the bottom-10 teams with Lavine and Vucevic still on the team. Even if the Bulls can move on from both Lavine and Vucevic, they still have a strong duo in Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu.

The runner-up of the 2024 Most Improved Player award, Coby White is a player the Bulls need to make a quick decision on. Putting up 19.1 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 5.1 APG during the 2023-24 season, White established himself as one of the more overlooked young guards in the league. Signing a three-year deal worth $36 million during the 2023 offseason, that contract is now seen as a steal across the league.

While there have been questions of if White could be a number one guy on a championship team, he is a player who could be one of the centerpieces of a young Bulls core alongside Matas Buzelis, or a valuable trade piece to a contender that could trade a pick and a promising young player in return in hopes of winning a championship. While there have been no immediate rumors of the Bulls trading White ahead of the 2024-25 season, anything is possible.

Dosunmu sits in a similar position as White, having a steal of a contract while taking a leap during the 2023-24 season. Entering the secod year of this three-year, $21 million deal, Ayo is looking to improve on the 2023-24 season that saw him average 12.2 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 3.2 APG. He's proven himself off the bench and in a starting role, making him valuable to both the Bulls and any team looking for a solid player on a great deal.

To ensure the Bulls keep their top-10 protected 2025 first-round draft pick, the Bulls have to move on from at least one of their remaining stars. In an Eastern Conference that saw the 39 win Bulls and 36 win Atlanta Hawks make the Play-In tournament, mediocrity could still land the Bulls outside the bottom-10 teams at the end of next season.

With teams including Detroit, Washington, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Portland, and Utah among the teams competiting to land the #1 pick of the 2025 NBA Draft, Chicago's lack of a true direction this offseason has already cost them a chance at Cooper Flagg. While things could change for the Bulls, it also took Bulls managment several years to admit changes were needed.