It makes sense on paper.
Then again, Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas doesn’t exactly fit in a nice clean box of what makes sense when pen hits pad.
So while the NBA calendar is only sitting in Mid-November, the Bulls are already churning in the drama-filled waters of the rumor mill.
The latest – and hottest – one? With Dallas spiraling and scapegoat/general manager Nico Harrison fired, the Mavericks might be the first organization to tap out on the 2025-26 campaign and turn their attention to the art of tanking and on a loaded 2026 draft class.
It adds up perfectly considering they landed Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 pick last summer, and the way college freshman standouts Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, and Cameron Boozer have started off this season, there’s more elite talent to be had.
That means Dallas will have to start unloading cargo off the sinking ship and there could be no bigger potential prize on the trade market than big man, and Chicago native, Anthony Davis. And where there’s smoke there’s fire.
Former NBA guard John Wall was on a podcast recently and insisted that while he didn’t want to speak for Davis, he was hearing that Davis did want to play for his hometown team. NBA insider Marc Stein then came out and reported that Davis’ camp was expected to work with the Dallas front office to figure out if an in-season trade was a logical path to monitor the next few months.
All well and good.
Davis is owed a total of $175.4 million over the next three years, starting with the $54 million price tag on him this season.
The Bulls have six expiring contracts, including the likes of Nikola Vucevic, Zach Collins, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu.
The forgotten piece in all of this? Karnisovas.
While all criticism of the suit and the job he’s done now in Year 6 is justified, what Karnisovas hasn’t been is a liar. If he comes out and says something is the plan, he seldom strays from that plan.
The last time he spoke publicly was on media day in late September, and he was asked about adding a star player and his inability to do that in his tenure. Over and over again, he insisted that there could be a star emerging in-house, whether that be Coby White, Josh Giddey, Matas Buzelis or someone else.
“Going back a year ago when we got into this transition and starting our second year, I think we were messaging the fan base that this is the way we have to do it,” Karnisovas said then. “We have to be patient, we have to do it the right way, and we can’t skip steps. So for this team this year, we’ve got to show growth.
“This group is pretty young and there’s a lot of potential there.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement that Karnisovas is looking to trade the farm for, yes, a former NBA champion in Davis, but one that is also expensive, 32 years old, and far too often in street clothes than his No. 3 jersey.
Could a current four-game losing streak and three of those losses coming at the hands of elite NBA talent like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Donovan Mitchell and Victor Wembanyama plant a seed of doubt in Karnisovas and his plan? Highly unlikely.
The Bulls were in position to try and play the tank game for the elite potential of Flagg last season and didn’t even give it a second thought.
“Competitive integrity” rules the day for Karnisovas, and of course patience.
No shortcuts allowed … even if they make sense on paper.