NBA Trade season has begun, and the Bulls have been jumped by another seller

AKME are not proven dealers or negotiators, so this isn't surprising

As Bulls fans in the Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley era, we have been given so little to care about, and typically have been left with more confusion than coherence as to what they care about.

So it’s not surprising that this year, where trade season is one of the few interesting things to follow, we’ve seen little plan. And as the trading has already begun, with the Brooklyn Nets dumping two veterans on the Warriors and Lakers respectively, the Bulls execution, so far, is also lacking.

This is due to a variety of factors, the biggest one is AKME doesn’t know what they’re doing and should be fired instead of given opportunity to clean up this mess they themselves created.

With that overarching and demoralizing circumstance out of the way, we can get into other factors.

Motivation+Urgency of sellers: the Nets have only two more losses than the Bulls, but it is not a secret that they are looking to improve their 2025 draft position. And it’s also known they are not interested in keeping veterans on the roster as that 2025 pick is just one part of a haul of picks they have to start a rebuild. So part of their urgency in doing deals now, for perhaps less future return (more on that later) is that they’re considering it a positive to simply get worse sooner.

Motivation+Urgency of buyers: the Lakers and Warriors are two teams who were rumored to be interested in the Bulls veterans. They also likely own a sense of urgency as these games in January are just as important as the spring because the Western Conference (NBA First Division, the Bulls don’t compete here) is so difficult. I don’t think their two additions means they are closing the door on adding someone from the Bulls too, though it does deplete their ammo.

The veterans’ value: Are Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic better than Dennis Schroeder and Dorian Finney-Smith? The prior two are discussed (sometimes even outside of the Bulls facilities and PR apparatus) as potential All-Stars. But that doesn’t matter as much as their on-court fit and contract. LaVine and Vuc may have rehabilitated how they’re talked about, but not only are they in roles that are not as scarce as a point guard or a 3-and-D forward¹ like what the Nets had to offer the market, they’re also overpaid for that role.

What the Bulls value: Part of the return for these two players for the Nets was a net gain² of 5 second round picks. We know how AKME feels about draft picks, and second rounders especially:

The Nets also received a player who AK would brand as ‘a young player with experience’ in Maxwell Lewis, selected 5 picks after Julian Phillips in the 2023 second round. They also took on 2024-25 salary in both trades: it wasn’t a lot, but as they were dealing with taxpayers on the other end of the deals this was ‘value’.

Now thinking of the Bulls, I am being lazy by not linking to individual reports, but my interpreted consensus is that they are holding out for first rounders in a LaVine and/or Vuc deal, AND refusing to take on multi-season salary. What I don’t know is whether they are also unwilling to add money for this season, but we can assume even if a little bit they are not going over the tax line (they’re ~$4M away). If they were that forward-thinking, they would’ve gotten the better asset in the DeRozan sign-and-trade.

Motivation+Urgency of the Bulls: I don’t believe (or at least, I hope not) that first rounders is some red line that AKME won’t cross and this is mere negotiation as we head into the deadline. In terms of timing, I don’t think the Bulls are costing themselves in the tank race holding out a few weeks for a better return³.

But we don’t even know the fundamental philosophy of the organization: do the Bulls even think they’re sellers? Are they prioritizing “competitive in every game” and staying in the hunt for the play-in? They’ve exceeded my personal expectations in being that ‘good’ so far this season, but I don’t think AKME had such low expectations. I think they believe they’re playing as well as they hoped for. And with a new identity!

There’s another goal of this season, young players’ development, and that has not gone very well. But they likely feel that in staying “competitive” - and, for example, having Vuc around to set screens and provide passing opportunity for Josh Giddey - means more for development than simply clearing out playing time⁴.

The Brooklyn Nets don’t have these inscrutable and mostly-conflicting set of goals. And their management has a history of making sensible transactions. Thus they are at an advantage over the incompetent AKME, and have likely won the sellers competition of NBA trade season already.

1. Those ARE the roles that Torrey Craig and Jevon Carter can fill, and they have very good contracts. But they’re just not as good and I’m not sure a playoff contender would even see them as part of their rotation. They’re not even in the Bulls’ rotation!

2. no pun intended, this is to say they acquired 6 but did send 1 out.

3. I similarly don’t think the Nets are that savvy taking a deal early, as D’Angelo Russell and their existing wing depth can likely make up reasonably well for what DFS and Schroeder were going to provide them the next several weeks.

4. or could be even more cynical and think they can’t signal to the patrons of their home arena that they’ve given up yet because it’ll hurt attendance (or at least in-arena sales as people no-show)