The Bulls Cleaned House, And The Aftermath Exposes A Brutal Reality

The Chicago Bulls just wrapped up their 2026 NBA trade deadline by doing something that was long overdue: a complete overhaul. They executed seven trades, shipped off several long-standing organizational pieces like Nikola Vucevic, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, and Dalen Terry, and hit the reset button. Unfortunately, thanks to Arturas Karnisovas waiting too long to trade away most of these assets, the return was minimal. At some point in the last three years, most of the players who are now gone were projected to net a first-round draft pick for the Bulls. Instead, they landed nine second-round picks, several expiring contracts, and a surplus of guards. This was not the only wave of players for whom this occurred; the last three years have been riddled with similar situations. Here’s the damning truth Chicago faces after the dust has settled.

An Entire Era Of Wasted Assets

Over the last three years, Chicago has gone 118-128 and lost in the play-in tournament at the conclusion of each season. This year, they’re pacing to do the same. During that span, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, Coby White, Nikola Vucevic, and Ayo Dosunmu have all been rumored to be worth first-round draft capital during either the trade deadline or the offseason. Since Karnisovas has insisted on chasing success rather than facing the mediocre product at hand, they’ve not only moved on from all these assets but also netted a grand total of zero first-round picks belonging to opposing franchises in return. This is an irreversible mistake that has set the Bulls back several years, leading to this point, and has doomed them for the future.

The Bulls’ front office was unable to gain a single 1st-round pick in separate trades for all of these players over the past few years:

Zach LaVine
DeMar DeRozan
Alex Caruso
Lonzo Ball
Nikola Vucevic
Coby White pic.twitter.com/BAc3eNRXM9

— Evan Sidery (@esidery) February 4, 2026

Not competing for NBA titles is one thing, but not committing to a rebuild at the same time is another. Chicago has been the epitome of mediocrity, and Karnisovas has refused to accept the reality that this core was never built to make postseason runs. The worst news is that even though he finally cleaned house, it’s become increasingly clear how terribly the entire process was mishandled.

Confusion, Frustration, And Disappointment

Chicago Bulls fans are going through all of the emotions this afternoon. After seeing the entire last era of players be shipped off for subpar assets, the frustration stems from the failure to sell them at their highest demand, wait until their contracts were expiring or performance had dipped, and netting nothing of substance in the massive re-route. Disappointment rises when looking at the list of players that could have been traded for better returns, seeing the lowly package they possess to begin the rebuild, and knowing that Karnisovas remains at the helm

The confusing part for most fans is where the franchise goes next. They have an overload of guards on the roster, most of whom warrant minutes in the rotation. They’ve only got one true center, with a contract expiring this summer. Above all, Chicago now owns the rights to 14 second-round picks in future drafts, to use on what exactly? It’s tough to know if they’re preparing cap space and draft capital for a bigger splash this summer, or if they’re truly grinding through a severely undermanned rebuilding phase. Two things are for certain: Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis are the future, and they’ll be aggressively tanking for better draft positioning immediately.

The Bulls have added nine second-round picks in the last week. They now have 14 total.

Just a very Bulls way to blow things up and somehow still land in the middle.

— Dave (@davebfr) February 5, 2026

Most of the players Chicago acquired also have contracts that expire this summer. That means, in addition to tanking for better draft odds, they’ll be separating who is worthy of an investment and who will walk in free agency. Assuming most are not retained, the Bulls turned an entire decade of All-Stars and rising talents into several second-round picks, welcome to the Arturas Karnisovas experience.