Look who is doing all they can to become the hunter.
The Sun-Times reported earlier this week that the Bulls were in serious trade discussions for both Lonzo Ball and Coby White. A source confirmed on Saturday that Ball would be the first shoe to drop, traded to Cleveland for defensive-minded forward Isaac Okoro.
General manager Marc Eversley hinted on Wednesday that the mindset of the roster construction for the Bulls was headed for a change.
Discussing the Pacers and their run to the NBA Finals, Eversley said, “What I take away from Indiana is their style of play. They continue to come at you over and over. They play fast in spite of the score or what quarter it is. That’s kind of how we played this year. They’ve got a bunch of players that can play on both sides of the floor, and that’s exactly what we want to build here in Chicago, players who are versatile. You can’t (defensively) hunt any of their players. Everybody can defend, run and make a shot.”
It was then pointed out to Eversley that the Bulls – as currently built – have players that can be hunted on the defensive side of the floor, starting with his backcourt of Ball and Josh Giddey.
Giddey isn’t going anywhere, expected to sign a $30-million a year contract extension in the next few weeks, and if White stays that means more attention will be needed to defending the wings. That’s where Okoro comes in.
Yes, Ball is a great defensive guard but is not a starter and has been seldom healthy. It’s well-known that he missed over two-and-a-half seasons recovering from a career-threatening left knee procedure, and then last season played in only 35 games because of a wrist injury.
Okoro, who was selected just one pick (5th overall) after Patrick Williams in the 2020 draft, has underwhelmed overall, but does bring a defensive mindset to the roster as well as availability.
“I think for us we need to remain diligent and pragmatic about how we build this,” Eversley continued. “We don’t want to skip steps. Sometimes when you do skip steps, expectations build, and you make mistakes. I don’t think we want to do that.
“We’ve established a style of play offensively, I think the next iteration of this is identifying who we are defensively and how we can improve.”
While it is a gut-punch that the Bulls again received no draft compensation back, it’s not like they’re taking on a bad contract in return to warrant that.
Ball was making $10 million this upcoming season with a $10-million team option for 2026-27. Okoro is $11 million this year and guaranteed $11.8 million in 2026-27. Yes, it does mess with the idea of having really clean books for the ’26 offseason, but not a lot.
What it does do, however, is allow the Bulls to aggressively continue packaging Patrick Williams, which has been a priority this offseason.
Williams’ awful contract make it an almost impossible mission, but this is expected to be a trading market the next month so anything is possible.
As for Okoro’s role, he has started 238 of the 334 games he’s played in and has shown an ability to be a three-point threat, improving from 29% as a rookie to 39.1% in the 2023-24 season. That fits Billy Donovan’s style of play perfectly.
Okoro’s presence the next two seasons also takes a bit of pressure off the project that is first-round pick Noa Essengue. The 18-year-old will need time to grow into an NBA wing and Okoro working as a starter opposite Matas Buzelis or a reserve off the bench allows that process to happen.