Decisions the Bulls Should Already Regret from This Past Offseason
The Chicago Bulls haven't been the same since losing Lonzo Ball to a knee injury in Jan. 2022.
Their slow start to the 2023-24 season, though, suggests they may have backtracked from mediocre to simply not very good. And if that's actually the case, then Chicago made a series of missteps this offseason, which collectively could set this franchise back for years to come.
While there are more missteps than we're able to squeeze in this space, we'll spotlight three of the most regrettable.
Extending Nikola Vučević
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Before the free agency market even opened, Chicago showered Nikola Vučević with cash—$60 million to be precise by way of a three-year extension.
What was the rush? He's a solid player, sure, but it's not like he seemed to be this enormous flight risk. There weren't many teams with major money to spend this summer in general, and even fewer that had both cap flexibility and some win-now incentive. Had the Bulls let him test the market, it's possible he could've wound up costing less than they paid him.
And even if he wound up finding more money elsewhere, would that have been the worst thing in the Windy City? He's an awkward fit to pair with Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan. They're too ball-dominant to let Vučević's creation and passing shine, and he isn't the kind of interior anchor who can clean up their mistakes on the defensive end.
This felt as if the Bulls needed something to show for the disastrous 2021 deadline deal in which Chicago acquired Vučević and Al-Farouq Aminu for Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr. and draft picks that became Franz Wagner and Jett Howard. Chicago clearly lost that trade, and Vučević's free agency wasn't going to change that either way.
Bringing Back Ayo Dosunmu Without a Clear Role for Him
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Three-plus weeks passed between Ayo Dosunmu entering restricted free agency and Chicago plucking him out of it with a new three-year, $21 million deal.
While the Bulls were likely letting the market set his price, they also had to be wondering whether he was even worth bringing back. After all, they had seemingly set their backcourt rotation already by adding Jevon Carter to a guard group already including Zach LaVine, Coby White and Alex Caruso.
Something eventually led this franchise back to Dosunmu, though, and convinced the club to commit a not insignificant amount of money to him. While he's talented enough to justify the cost, he may not get the minutes needed to actually do so. Entering Wednesday night, he was locked in as Chicago's fifth guard and 10th man in the rotation.
It's unlikely to see his role changing without a trade, as he lacks the outside shooting and playmaking this roster really needs.
Delaying the Inevitable
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Chicago's front office seems fully convinced it can win with this core. You'd be hard-pressed to find just about anyone else in the basketball world who shares that belief.
This summer was the Bulls' chance to let go of those false hopes and start preparing for a better tomorrow? They could've let Vučević walk, traded DeRozan ahead of the final season left on his contract and even shopped LaVine for some future-focused roster-building assets.
Chicago, of course, opted for Door No. 2, extending Vučević, holding extension talks with DeRozan and setting a sky-high price during LaVine trade talks. The Bulls refused to accept what reality has shown them time and again: This team needs a top-to-bottom tear down, and it won't make any meaningful progress until that happens.
While the Bulls could dive head-first into a rebuild at any moment, they are losing their negotiating power by the minute. DeRozan is less valuable in a trade now than he would've been this summer, when clubs could have worked him into the fold with a full training camp. LaVine's rough shooting isn't helping his value, and Vučević may not be super appealing on his new contract.
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