A thrilling win over the Denver Nuggets was the last game Zach LaVine played in a Bulls jersey.
The two-time All-Star left the team for the birth of his third child after that Jan. 27 victory, and while he was on leave he was traded to Sacramento.
A bow wrapped on a Bulls career with a few highs but far too many lows.
Meanwhile, the Bulls were presumably left for dead, sitting at 20-27 in the standings and without arguably their best offensive player on the roster.
Turns out it was a bad presumption to make.
Since LaVine’s last game, the Bulls have gone 8-11 and have made a strong push to try and jump both Miami and Orlando in the play-in seedings. This is by no means a reflection on only LaVine. Mediocre is mediocre no matter the tier it sits on.
The LaVine/DeMar DeRozan-led Bulls finished with the No. 9 seed last year, cashed in on a gutless performance from Atlanta in the first round of the play-in, and then lost on South Beach to the Heat.
It’s the usual suspects this season, as the Bulls are intertwined with the likes of the Hawks and the Heat, while the Magic have replaced the 76ers in the Eastern Conference’s “Mediocre Four.”
Not one is a threat to Cleveland or Boston. They are actually more nuisance than threat. Mosquitoes that will inevitably be squashed between a pair of clapping hands, wiped on a pair of pants as an afterthought.
But here’s what should keep Bulls fans up at night: If the Bulls can get out of the play-in and reach a postseason series – as embarrassing as that series will play out – it will be fool’s gold that executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas will inevitably chase.
Not because it moves the needle closer to bringing a title back to Chicago as Karnisovas once promised, but it will be a success from last season, and even from before LaVine was traded. A step that Karnisovas will undoubtedly point out in his exit interview media season in April, and unfortunately for Bulls fans, an ailing rabbit that he will chase.
Even the current contract situation of the roster dictates that.
Karnisovas has $134.8 million in guaranteed money to pay out next season and that doesn’t include the potentially mammoth contract extension that Josh Giddey will inevitably get.
Before LaVine was traded, Giddey was putting up a very pedestrian 11.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game, while shooting 32.7% from three-point range and not even closing out tight games. A showing that was realistically worth about $15-$18 million per year on the open market.
Since the LaVine trade, however, Giddey is at 20.3 points, 8.6 rebounds, 6.8 assists per game, while now hitting a flammable 47.4% from three-point range. That’s a $20-$25 million per year player and on a bad day.
By the time a rookie is added and a free agent or two, unless the Bulls can make another trade this summer, the roster could look very similar.
That’s why this season has been such a catastrophe. With loaded draft classes in both 2025 and 2026 expected, this was the year to blow it up and feel the pain. Washington, Utah, Charlotte, New Orleans, Brooklyn, Philadelphia unexpectedly, Toronto and Portland all understood that.
The Bulls and Karnisovas? All he’s understood in being unaccepting of embracing the hurt of a proper rebuild.
The Bulls are now preparing for a six-city West Coast trip starting in Houston on Saturday. A month ago, it looked like it would be a death march into lottery ticket bliss. Now, it feels like they could easily come out 3-3, inching their way towards hosting a play-in game.
A mirage? Absolutely. But one that Karnisovas has shown he will chase.