If you 'love' Ayo Dosunmu, extend him
Bulls have leverage in a veteran extension negotiation if they do it now
It’s tough to intro these posts without sounding repetitive and pessimistic. I think we all know the general state of the franchise (hopeless, irrelevant) and it’s become superfluous to providing that context to every roster decision. Let alone the front office’s goals (keep their jobs) and their spin (everything is great, even when those things contradict eachother).
Let’s drill down on this particular decision, and that is regarding Ayo Dosunmu, who is entering his 5th season as a Chicago Bull and final one on his current contract. That makes him eligible for a veteran extension, and though we haven’t really noticed here because the Bulls don’t have “great players” to extend, extensions have become far more prevalent around the league - somewhat kneecapping the free agency market - since the latest CBA implementation.
We haven’t heard any rumors about the Bulls working on an extension for Ayo. I’ve seen lots of speculation - simply going down eligible players throughout the league - that Ayo is a good candidate for an extension whereas Coby White (in a very similar contract situation) does not.
Because both White and Dosunmu look set to make less than the average player salary next season (barely for White and by a large margin for Dosunmu), they are both eligible for what we call the “Dinwiddie Extension”. This moniker is because once upon a time with the Brooklyn Nets, Spencer Dinwiddie was eligible to sign an extension based off the average player salary. It became so talked about, that every Nets fan, and Dinwiddie himself, could quote the exact terms for what he was eligible to extend for.
In the case of White and Dosunmu, their max extensions this summer project to be about $89 million over four years. That’s 140% of the average player salary, followed by 8% raises.
The consensus - and Zach Lowe at The Ringer seemingly confirmed this, if offhandedly - is that a Coby White extension is a non-starter at even that maximum amount. It probably shouldn’t be that definitive, because of how the league has valued smaller shoot-y guards recently, but the Bulls are neither capable nor ambitious enough to take any advantage in anything.
Heck they may not even be capable or ambitious enough to do something proactive with a lower impact player like Dosunmu, who absolutely certainly doesn’t merit that maximum amount he’s eligible so there is room for negotiation, right?
Again, we haven’t heard there has been any talks. And while we have heard that there have been trade discussions, I’ve only seen that from KC Johnson, whose employment status means he’s providing cover for The Bulls1, whose front office has shown a complete misunderstanding of player value at every turn making them an inscrutable trade partner teams have expressed difficulty in dealing with.
Here’s more inside information from Johnson on a team-sponsored podcast:
“I should emphasize in all this — the Bulls love both Ayo and Coby [White]. They love them. They fit exactly what they’re trying to do.
But... good front offices get in front of these situations and get value in return because I don’t project both those players to be on the 2026-27 roster. It just doesn’t work financially.”
That last point is key. Well, not the point that ‘it doesn’t work’ to have both Coby and Ayo on the roster following this season, as the Bulls don’t have enough, how should I say, “great players” to where their books are clogged up, and they are not going to be a free agent destination no matter how much cap space they have. I mean the point that good front offices are proactive. The Bulls are not a good front office.
My dismay in the Josh Giddey negotiations is that the while the Bulls don’t have a great player in Giddey, but they could’ve used their advantages to get a great contract. It could be similar with Dosunmu, if the Bulls leverage their advantages.
One attribute that is specific to Ayo is that he’s a home-grown player by both birth and professional development. In theory this would mean he’s more valuable to the Bulls than another team: they appreciate his off-court contributions to his hometown, and they can tout his selection as a very rare draft success. But the term “hometown discount” is more prevalent in sports for a reason: there is no other team in the NBA where Ayo would enjoy this. And he’s still a bit early in his career to worry about things like “being on a relevant team”.
A bigger thing they can sell, and simultaneously threaten, Ayo on is his role. They are forever middling and accumulating similarly-tiered players, meaning Ayo can have a significant spot in the rotation but is also easily replaceable. Ayo’s advanced metrics2 have never matched his reputation, but that reputation is a player with multiple core competencies:
spot-up shooting
caretaking point guard play
perimeter defense
The Bulls have added several options to fill those roles, and could reasonably say that each have advantages over Ayo in certain areas:
Kevin Huerter - movement shooting
Isaac Okoro - perimeter defense
Tre Jones - caretaking point guard play
But Ayo could reason back to them:
Has no glaring holes like those other players
It’s not like the Bulls have a plan or a clue when acquiring players
It could be seen as premature to expect negotiations now: as Ayo is a veteran on an expiring contract, there is no deadline for when an extension can be signed, it can even happen after the trade deadline. So the Bulls could apply leverage by opening up trade talks, but as already stated they don’t know how to make trades.
But heading into training camp, they could be pushing for a cheap extension now. I haven’t thought too hard over of actual amounts - and it’s not in the same strata as Giddey so not that important the range - but thinking sub-average salary, like around $9M per season? Reason with Ayo that while they value him, he is coming off a major injury and surgery, and…just saying…Isaac Okoro was a targeted acquisition and Billy really likes Tre Jones, and both have contracts extending beyond this season so they may get your playing time and you are potentially looking at a low and/or short salary in the offseason with a team that you did not grow up rooting for.
Sigh, it’s also hard to close these posts! Because this is all presupposing the Bulls front office knows that their job is to try and build a roster, not to over-sell every morsel of success to ownership. THE END.
I pledge to do better as an aggregator this season and contextualize that KC is compromised, maybe I should photoshop him in the Benny costume to get that point across. If only I had those skills…
I don’t have them off-hand, and defensive all-in-one stats are not very reliable/predictive, but trust me.
The obvious thing Ayo has over that group is that he combines those attributes into one body. He doesn’t shoot as well as Huerter, but Huerter can’t defend. He doesn’t defend as well as Okoro, but Okoro can’t dribble, pass, or shoot. He doesn’t pass as well as Jones, but Jones doesn’t really shoot and can’t guard anyone other than a point guard.
I’ve maintained, forever, that the worst thing the Bulls can do is just allow Ayo and Coby to just play out their contracts. Coby is a starting caliber player on a backups deal, and Ayo is a quality backup on a benchwarmer’s deal. These should have had significant trade value, but every day that passes gives them less value as the expiration date is that much closer and the Bulls won’t deal them because Coby has been the single greatest force in getting the 9 seed annually, the peak of their ambition.
It’s Bulls media day! Let’s see what dumb shit management says this year!