The Bulls' 'trade': A step toward success? Or part of the flim-flam?

The Bulls beat the Heat in Miami without Josh Giddey, Nikola Vucivic, Coby White and Tre Jones — with footnote-to-be Yuki Kawamura making a difference in crunch time — then traded salary cap space (acquiring Dario Saric's expiring contract from the Kings) for two second-round draft picks in a lauded deal with the Cavaliers and Kings. It was the biggest double-barrelled good news night in Chicago since the Bears beat the Packers in the playoffs and the Cubs signed Alex Bregman back in January of 2026.

A big night for Bulls VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas, who has been under fire from critics all season with the Bulls spinning their wheels for a fourth consecutive season. Even Joe Cowley, my former Sun-Times colleague who is a noted (and lonely) Bulls cynic and AK doubter, gave Karnisovas credit for his "4th straight smart trade."

There's no doubt that it's objectively a winning move for the Bulls. Karnisovas has an overall poor record in the draft — not only in drafting but in draft positioning and even luck (with Josh Giddey's game-winning desperation shot against the Lakers last year costing them Cooper Flagg). But it's worth noting he acquired two second-round picks on the night that 2021 second-round pick Ayo Dosunmu carried the Bulls to victory with a career game — 29 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.

So you can't argue with the positive reviews the trade has elicited. But I have just one question for those who believe in (or refuse to criticize) the Karnisovas/Billy Donovan pairing: What is your expiration date for this latest rebuild? How long do you give Donovan to mold the Matas Buzelis/Giddey foundation into a contender? How many more .500 seasons with a play-in seed before you join the chorus of Bulls fans who are calling for new management?

The Bulls have been spinning their wheels for more than four seasons under Karnisovas/Donovan. They are 188-189 since the start of the 2021-22 season. Over the last four seasons, they have been over .500 for 18 of 295 games — and none after Game 18 of any of those seasons. Since 2021-22, the Bulls have been in a play-in seed or lower after Game 13 for 538 consecutive NBA calendar days.

This is Year 2 of the Buzelis/Giddey pairing that I think is expected to bear fruit — defined as actual contention to win the Eastern Conference — by the end of the 2026-27 season. But the Bulls have been slip-sliding their way through this season without much if any discernible progress.

The 15-5 run at the end of last season (20-5 after the 5-0 start this season) has been exposed as fool's gold. Buzelis is making incremental progress as a rising star, but it's not making a big difference. Even Coby White seems to have run his course as a foundation piece of the rebuild. The Bulls seem to elicit a lot of false hope — a one-off victory over a contender; beating the Heat with at times a glorified G-League lineup and Yuki providing the spark. The "Bench Mob" days of the Thibs era that is not.

But it's enough to keep hope alive. But at some point, enough is enough. The question still stands: When is that point?

---