The current Chicago Bulls regime isn’t devoid of mistakes.
Dealing Alex Caruso straight up for Josh Giddey in a trade with Oklahoma City and not landing a single one of the Thunder’s 16 first-round picks or pick swaps is a shining example. So is handing a then 33-year-old Nikola Vucevic a three-year, $60 million extension, regardless of how well he’s played this season.
Jevon Carter is in the second year of a three-year, $19.5 million contract (with a player option for next season) and hasn’t started a game during his Bulls career. He’s averaging 6.6 minutes this season.
Chicago still owes a first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs from the DeMar DeRozan trade in 2021, a valuable asset it could very well lose.
Perhaps the most confounding move of all, though, was doubling down on Patrick Williams and doling out a five-year, $90 million extension when he was trending toward, if he hadn’t already reached, draft bust status.
In his first four years, the No. 4 pick in the 2020 draft played in 213 games with averages of 9.7 points and 4.2 rebounds. His best season came in 2023-23 when he averaged 10.2 points and 4.0 rebounds on shooting splits of 46/42/86.
The eye test was even more damning than the mediocre stats. Williams has all the tools a combo forward needs to succeed in the NBA; he’s long, strong, athletic, explosive and has developed an outside shot. Teams drool over those types of physical attributes.
Yet the 23-year-old has never put any of those tools together to live up to his lofty potential. The Bulls watched it up close for four years but still decided he was deserving of a $90 million contract.
Shockingly (sarcasm), Williams hasn’t shown anything close to justifying that deal. If anything, he’s regressed.
If nothing’s clicked yet for the Florida State alum, it’s fair to say it never will, and the Bulls’ front office has locked itself into another wild mistake.
That is unless a savior comes along, someone who believes they can “finally unlock” Williams’ potential and, along with it, take his unseemly contract.
Bulls trade Patrick Williams to Jazz for John Collins in mock deal
Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report put together a piece giving every NBA team a trade they could propose heading toward the Feb. 6 deadline. One deal in particular would toss the Bulls a lifeline:
Collins is an NBA trade machine veteran. He agreed to a five-year, $125 million deal with the Atlanta Hawks before the 2021-22 season, but it didn’t take long to realize the former first-round pick was putting up empty numbers and preventing Atlanta from fully moving into the Trae Young Era.
Two seasons later, the Hawks dumped his salary onto the rebuilding Utah Jazz, where Collins has been a relatively productive player. This season, the 27-year-old is averaging 17.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.0 stocks (steals plus blocks) with shooting splits of 53/44/87.
Utah is a tanking franchise, though, and as Swartz points out, would like to take advantage of Collins’ resurgent season. In this scenario, the Jazz turns an established veteran into a younger player with some upside to potentially unlock, in the process increasing their tank for a higher pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Grading the trade for the Bulls
Collins is owed $26.6 million this season and has a player option for the same amount next year. His salary isn’t necessarily the problem, though. It’s his production.
The Bulls already have Zach LaVine playing like an All-Star, especially since the start of January. Vucevic should garner All-Star consideration as well as the big man is averaging 20.3 points and 10.2 rebounds while shooting 42.9 percent from three on 4.7 attempts per night.
Add in Collins’ 18 ppg on similar efficiency, and while it may not give Chicago a trio of stars, those three are certainly good enough to carry the Bulls to the playoffs and out of the draft lottery, which means the franchise can kiss that top 10 pick in a loaded draft goodbye.
If this deal were to happen, there could be more moves on the way. Perhaps Collins is rerouted, Chicago finds a taker for Vucevic, or, somehow, miraculously finds a trade partner for LaVine.
Regardless, offloading Williams so early into his extension would immediately fix a(nother) monumental mistake by the organization and would free up the Bulls to make more moves down the line.
If the first-round pick conveys to San Antonio this summer, Chicago would have access to all of its firsts moving forward. If he’s still on the roster, Vucevic’s contract expires after next season, and even if Collins picks up his player option, his money would be off the books after 2025-26 as well.
Add in Lonzo Ball’s $21.4 million expiring deal, and the Bulls would clear nearly $70 million in salary off the books by 2026-27 with complete control of its draft picks and a first-rounder coming from Portland at some point.
This deal may be painful in the present but would set Chicago up for an opportunity at a sincere, realistic rebuild with legitimate potential.
Assuming the Bulls clean house and start over with a new front office.
