Seven Trades, Zero Firsts: Welcome To What Artūras Karnišovas Calls “A Stage”
To the surprise of many, the Chicago Bulls were the most active team in the NBA at the trade deadline. This week, they executed seven trades, shipped off an entire era of roster pieces, and brought back a slew of expiring contracts and late-round draft picks. As less of a shocker, Arturas Karnisovas did not net a single first-round pick, inherited a much weaker return for several assets than he would’ve a year ago, and still had the same answers during his post-deadline press conference. In previous years, he’s mentioned at various times that second-round draft picks don’t move the needle and aren’t valuable. This week, his mindset completely flipped as he acquired 9 of them during roster restructuring. The biggest underlying message was the flexibility Chicago will carry into the summer, without questionable contracts to renew, with over half of its roster possibly headed to free agency and a boatload of draft capital.
Still Refusing To Use The Magic Word
All Bulls fans know what this week finally signified: the commitment to a rebuild. Even though the returns on Nikola Vucevic, Coby White, and Ayo Dosunmu were poor, they still indicated sacrificing the current record for the prospect of winning in future years. Karnisovas and head coach Billy Donovan have never wavered from preaching that the organization will always prioritize winning now, competing for championships, and putting out the best product on a nightly basis. With how long some of these players were held on to despite mediocre performances or ill-advised contracts, that became very evident. This time around, heading into the week a few games below the .500 mark, things had changed. Despite having a similar record and standing in the Eastern Conference over the last three trade deadlines, the front office leader doubled down on his decision to wait until 2026 to blow it up.
Karnišovas on if he has any regrets not doing this earlier: “I do not. Right now is good timing.”
Says second-round picks are “currency”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) February 5, 2026
Karnišovas says “this is a stage” instead of calling it a rebuild. Says Bulls have young players with NBA experience and flexibility this offseason.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) February 5, 2026
AK’s refusal to face the fire and admit that the last three years have been abysmal on and off the court has led to an entire fanbase calling for his dismissal. The audacity to keep asking for patience, claim that Chicago is a desirable destination in free agency, and remain determined that the group can compete in the playoffs in the near future is leading many to conclude that he’s orchestrating the worst front office in franchise history.
More Moves To Follow
The obvious question after yesterday was said and done was: what was the organization planning to do with the surplus of guards? They’ve now acquired Anfernee Simons, Jaden Ivey, Collin Sexton, and Rob Dillingham, while retaining Josh Giddey and Tre Jones. Three of the guards added this week are on contracts that will expire in a few months, which is a leading source of frustration amongst the fans. White, Dosunmu, and Vucevic are gone, and in a few months, the total net return could be 30 games of rental guards and several second-round draft picks. This is exponentially more despicable when you remember that, at the deadline each of the last two years, at least one first-round pick could’ve been had for one or more of those assets.
Chicago Bulls guards:
— Josh Giddey
— Mac McClung
— Jaden Ivey
— Tre Jones
— Anfernee Simons
— Yuki Kawamura
— Collin Sexton
— Rob Dillingham— StatMuse (@statmuse) February 5, 2026
Chicago’s most significant needs are a center to invest in long-term, an All-Star caliber player to build around, and recruiting young talent to sign with the franchise. At season’s end, this roster could be entirely gutted.
Given Karnisovas’s failures throughout his tenure with the organization, did this week’s purge earn any points back in the eyes of the fans? Now that they’re undergoing a full rebuild, should they clean out the front office too before using what few assets they have left on more of the same, mediocre products?