Calling the Chicago Bulls unpredictable is an understatement. The Bulls have routinely zigged while the rest of the association has zagged. Not to say Chicago hasn't made savvy moves since Artūras Karnišovas and Marc Eversley took over in 2020, but they've been few and far between.
The Bulls have abstained from a rebuild despite fielding a mediocre team for years and have made it a habit to hold onto players for an inordinate amount of time. Alex Caruso, DeMar DeRozan, and Zach LaVine all overstayed their welcome in the Windy City. Not to their own faults, though—each player is uniquely valuable. Yet, the Bulls failed to extract requisite value from Caruso, DeRozan, and LaVine.
The Bulls' decision-making has been far from logical
For instance, the Bulls balked at the Golden State Warriors' trade offer for Caruso despite multiple first-round picks being involved. As we know, Chicago sent Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for only Josh Giddey. While the trade should now be considered a win-win, the Bulls sought out a distressed asset (at the time) for a player who had just been named to an All-NBA Defensive team.
There haven't been many reports of what the Bulls could have gotten for either DeRozan or LaVine, but it's fair to say Chicago didn't do the best job of flipping either former All-Star. For whatever reason, the Bulls sent DeRozan to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Chris Duarte, who played 17 games with Chicago, and two second-round picks.
The San Antonio Spurs snuck in the trade to acquire Harrison Barnes, who appeared in all 82 games this past season and averaged 12.3 points while shooting 43.3 percent from beyond the arc. The Bulls could have just as easily nabbed Barnes from the Kings instead of taking the frugal route.
Chicago ultimately shot itself in the foot with LaVine, after signing him to a lucrative five-year, $215 million contract in 2022. LaVine's exorbitant price tag cratered his trade value. Still, one would expect the Bulls to reap a greater return than Kevin Huerter, Tre Jones, Zach Collins, and their own 2025 first-round pick for a player in his prime. LaVine is arguably one of the best scorers in the NBA, yet the Bulls were forced to dump his salary rather than acquire a valuable asset.
Chicago's Front Office has been deemed challenging to work with
Consequently, over time, the Bulls' Front Office has been pegged as one that's not easy to work with. While discussing the Bulls' efforts to re-sign Giddey, NBA Insider Jake Fischer mentioned several teams have reached out to Chicago regarding a potential sign-and-trade.
However, Fischer reports these teams haven't been eager to contact the Bulls. Fischer wrote, "Yet it's likewise true that more than one rival front office has indicated a reluctance to try to engage the Bulls in sign-and-trade discussions…" While the Bulls shouldn't be actively seeking to trade Giddey, it's another instance of Karnišovas and Co. being both unpredictable and guarded.
Fischer expounded upon the Bulls' recent unpredictability, sharing, "Rival executives have had trouble for several trade deadlines in a row trying to pinpoint whether the Bulls were or weren't looking to offload some of their veteran players."
It's no secret that the Bulls' Front Office is one of the league's worst. Nevertheless, the expectation was that rival executives would lick their chops when preparing a trade to offer the Bulls. Conversely, it's quite the opposite—a rather discouraging development.