Stop me if you've heard this before, but Artūras Karnišovas' decision-making as Vice President of Basketball Operations of the Chicago Bulls has been ridiculed relentlessly. Not once, not twice, not more than Nico Harrison's (well, maybe), but the criticism will never stop.
Not to say Karnišovas deserves some of the blame for the Bulls' woes in recent seasons, he definitely does, but not everything is in his control. Chicago's ownership has embraced mediocrity, settling for average performance thanks to its yearly league-leading attendance numbers and iconic status.
Reverting to Karnišovas, his burden of blame stems from a listless approach to the decision-making process. Rather than being aggressive in his approach to building a contending team, Karnišovas has generally shied away from big moves. For one, the Bulls are dead last in trades since the former Nuggets general manager took over in 2020.
Artūras Karnišovas is constantly subject to fair criticism
Karnišovas certainly deserves some credit for acquiring Lonzo Ball, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic all within a few months. Still, besides those separate trades, and perhaps signing Alex Caruso and drafting Ayo Dosunmu and Matas Buzelis, there isn't much to praise.
As previously mentioned, Karnišovas' passive approach has typically gotten the best of him. He's routinely held onto players for far too long. Chicago experienced a brief surge of success in 2021-22, thanks to the additions of Ball, Caruso, DeRozan, and Vucevic, but that success quickly faded after Ball was sidelined by a string of injuries.
Despite this, all four veterans remained in Chicago until the summer of 2024, when the Bulls traded Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Josh Giddey, a move that appeared to reinvigorate Karnišovas' decision-making prowess.
Not long after acquiring Giddey, the Bulls sent DeRozan to Sacramento. Then, during the season, traded Zach LaVine, also to the Kings, and most recently sent Ball to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Nonetheless, even when Karnišovas makes a move, he gets grilled. The one-for-one swap of Caruso for Giddey has been ridiculed nonstop for quite some time. Looking back, the trade should be considered a win-win. The Bulls had no need for 31-year-old Caruso, while a then-21-year-old Giddey was far more appealing.
However, at the time of the trade, Giddey was coming off a dismal playoff performance, while Caruso had just enjoyed his most impactful professional season to date. Despite Caruso turning 30 and Giddey just starting to legally enjoy an adult beverage (at least in the U.S.), the trajectories of their careers were headed in different directions.
While discussing Karnišovas' tenure and the Bulls' future, ESPN's Tim MacMahon, alongside Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps, reacted candidly to Vucevic's quote with Eurobasket, stating that he believed the VP of Basketball Operations had done an overall good job with the Bulls.
MacMahon proclaimed, "One thing you don't do is trade Alex Caruso and then have the whole entire basketball world say 'are you bleeping kidding me,' they didn't get a single pick back… dumb[expletive]."
As if MacMahon's rant couldn't be any less a mockery of Karnišovas and his decision-making, he had to bring up the much-maligned trade for Giddey. Again, it was by no means a bad trade… looking at it now. When it happened is a much different story, especially considering the Thunder's treasure trove of draft picks went untouched in said trade.