CHICAGO — Less than three weeks remain until the The Chicago Bulls return to the Lawyers Center to prepare for the upcoming season. They arrive with more questions than answers after the departures of DeMar DeRozan And Alex Caruso and the unstable discontent of Zach LaVineThe failure of the business enterprise.
The defining question of the season is obvious: Will Lonzo Ball Finally, being able to play basketball in a meaningful way? But that question is both serious and completely out of anyone’s control — including Ball himself — which makes the idea of killing time in the final weeks before the season starts less fun.
Now let’s move on to the five big dilemmas facing the Bulls heading into training camp, which begins Oct. 1.
1. Is Artūras Karnišovas in the hot seat?
The answer will determine the course of the franchise, not just for this season but for the long term. It would be easy to let complacency become the norm in Chicago. Despite mediocre results over the past two seasons, the Bulls still lead the league in average attendance by a healthy margin. And the damage done by key injuries has been easy scapegoats for executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas and the rest of the front office.
But it now seems natural that that friendly tone must change. The Bulls have missed the playoffs for two straight years. Their most valuable player just hit free agency. And now they find themselves with a few cumbersome veteran contracts and a rudderless young core.
It’s easy to pin the blame on coach Billy Donovan, whose name has been bandied about in coaching rumors as the easiest person to blame for the team’s downfall. But in reality, the Bulls are doomed by their roster construction more than anything else. A penchant for inaction has left the team lagging despite a clear need to shed crucial players.
This season, the spotlight will be on Karnišovas to see how he can lift the franchise out of mediocrity.
2. What will it take to trade Zach LaVine?
Zach LaVine spent most of last year in a state of flux as the Bulls tried — and failed — to find a trade partner for their max-contract star after he began pushing for a trade just weeks into the season.
Last year was a rough year for LaVine, who averaged just 19.5 points and 3.9 assists in 25 games before being forced to sit out with a right foot injury. He had one of the worst three-point shooting seasons of his career (34.9 percent on 6.8 attempts per game) and looked generally out of sorts in most of his appearances. As a result, LaVine was unable to be traded to the Bulls due to the size of his contract and the sudden drop in his production.
It’s clear that the magnitude of this pendulum swing is unfairly harsh. At 29, LaVine is still an explosive scorer who can change the game off the dribble and around the rim. For the Bulls, the main goal this season is to prove that to LaVine.
3. Is Nikola Vučević still a piece of the puzzle in the long term?
This season will be crucial in advancing the third and final element of the now-defunct “Big Three”, which was Karnišovas’ first attempt at creating a winning team.
From the beginning, Nikola Vučević was the least suited player on offense. First, he had to adjust to a lower volume of shots. Then, the Bulls had to improve their schemes to incorporate more center passes from the center to avoid losing him in the corner. And just when Vučević seemed to have figured out his role, his three-point shooting suddenly plummeted, falling below 30 percent for the first time since 2016.
The Bulls committed to signing Vučević to a future by signing him to a three-year, $60 million contract last summer. With two years left on that deal, the Bulls are in a precarious position: They valued Vučević more than any other team in the league, but now they’re looking at a complete overhaul as they work to move LaVine.
Finding a destination for Vučević at the trade deadline is the Bulls’ likely goal. But if his shooting continues to decline, the veteran center’s overpriced contract could be another limiting factor as the Bulls continue their rebuild.
4. What is the ceiling of the young core?
Perhaps the only positive from last season was the steady improvement of the young stars. Coby White led that theme as the team’s new point guard and a finalist for Most Improved Player, but Ayo Dosunmu And Dalen Terry made significant gains, demonstrating the potential of a future local Bulls team.
But how much potential is there in all that potential? This season seems crucial to reevaluate the seven members of the under-25 core: White, Dosunmu, Terry, Patrick Williams, Julian Phillips, Matas Buzelis And Josh Giddey.
5. What to do about the 2025 NBA draft?
The 2024 draft wasn’t a major focal point for the Bulls — or, for that matter, any NBA team last season — due to the overall ranking of a make-or-break class. But the 2025 draft class is a different story. Headlined by Duke star Cooper Flagg, this season should see a return to teams jostling to land in the lottery and select top talent.
The Bulls’ path to the draft could be determined by the final piece of the 2021 trade to acquire DeRozan from the Bulls. San Antonio SpursThe Bulls are protected from the transmission of their choice to San Antonio only if they land a top-10 pick.
In a year like this, the Bulls can’t leave their destination choice to chance. It’s time for management to be pragmatic in its approach to roster-building mechanics by moving enough players at the deadline to secure a top-10 pick and turn the page on the future.
That strategy must be set by management at the start of the season and held firmly to it — yes, even if the Bulls are on track for another year in the NBA play-in tournament race.
