Way Too Little, Way Too Late: Critiquing the Chicago Bulls 2026 Trade Deadline

Deadline Moves Made

·      Nikola Vucevic Trade

o   CHI Received: G Anfernee Simons & a 2026 2nd Round Pick

o   BOS Received: C Nikola Vucevic & a 2027 2nd Round Pick

·      Coby White Trade

o   CHI Received: G Colin Sexton, F Ousmane Dieng, a 2031 2nd Round Pick (via NYK), & a 2031 2nd Round Pick (via DEN), *originally included an additional 2nd round pick but was removed from the package after CHI failed to disclose White’s calf injury.*

o   CHA Received: G Coby White & G Mike Conley

·      Ayo Dosunmu Trade

o   CHI Received: G Rob Dillingham, F Leonard Miller, a 2026 2nd Round Pick, a 2027 2nd Round Pick, & a 2032 2nd Round Pick

o   MIN Received: G Ayo Dosunmu, F Julian Phillips, & a 2031 2nd Round Pick Swap

·      Kevin Huerter Trade

o   CHI Received: G Jaden Ivey (via DET) & G Mike Conley (via MIN)

o   DET Received: G Kevin Huerter (via CHI), F Dario Saric (via CHI), & a 2026 1st Round Pick Swap (via MIN)

o   MIN Received: Trade Exceptions/Cash Considerations

Guard Depth Galore

Following the deadline, the Bulls now have a laughable number of guards on their roster, despite trading away two of their main ones in Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu. As of right now, here is the list of guards that are currently on the Bulls roster:

·      Anfernee Simons

·      Colin Sexton

·      Mac McClung

·      Yuki Kawamura

·      Tre Jones

·      Jaden Ivey

·      Josh Giddey

·      Rob Dillingham

Horrible Timing by the Front Office

While I am certainly glad the Bulls finally decided to accept the inevitable and hit the reset button on this roster, it’s impossible to not be frustrated with the minimal returns they got back from all the talent they have traded away over the past couple of years. Since June of 2024, the Bulls have traded away the following players: Alex Caruso (all-defensive veteran), Zach LaVine (former all-star), DeMar DeRozan (multi-time all-star), Nikola Vucevic (former all-star), Coby White, and Ayo Dosunmu. Out of all of those moves, they only received one first round draft pick in return (and it was their own that they previously traded away). This is a result of the front office led by Arturas Karnisovas miserably failing to maximize the value of his players. If each of these players were traded away just a year earlier, who knows how much better the return would have been, they definitely would have landed at least 2-3 more first round picks in my opinion. But instead, they decided to sit on their hands and as a result, got the underwhelming returns they deserved. Just a massive embarrassment.