The Golden State Warriors are reportedly interested in pulling off a sign-and-trade deal for Josh Giddey, who Chicago has yet to lock down to a long-term contract extension. The longer the Bulls wait, the more rumors will swirl and the more doubt will creep into the entire ordeal.

If any team executive could stumble into another massive roster-building debacle, vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas would be near, or perhaps at, the very top of the list.

It’s important to note that the Bulls are still expected to come to an agreement with Giddey before the start of the regular season. But discussions between the Warriors and Kuminga have not been as amicable, with some reports claiming both player and organization are ready for a split.

The machinations of any sign-and-trade are, like many other types of transactions, complicated in the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement. That’s kept Golden State from finding a suitable trade partner for its 22-year-old.

There’s a trail of breadcrumbs to follow, though, that links Kuminga to the Bulls and Giddey to the Warriors — a trail that’s just become more pronounced after one NBA insider’s recent reporting.

Losing Josh Giddey would be the biggest mistake this Bulls front office has ever made

To continue the above headline, “…and that’s saying something.” Karnisovas has made several high-profile errors during his tenure in Chicago. (And just got a new contract extension, so he’s got that going for him, which is nice.)

There’s the five-year, $90 million extension he handed Patrick Williams — a restricted free agent like Giddey — before the underperforming forward even hit the market. He waited too long to trade Zach LaVine. Ditto for DeMar DeRozan. He dealt two first-round picks, one of which became Franz Wagner, in exchange for Nikola Vucevic. In a related error, Vucevic is still on the roster.

Letting Giddey go would top them all. The 22-year-old floor general was behind the wheel of the Bulls’ new up-tempo, transition-based offense last year, which finished the season sixth in the NBA in points per game. After the all-star break, Giddey nearly averaged a triple-double; during that same stretch, Chicago’s offense was the second-highest scoring in the league behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder. The team went 17-10 to close out the regular season with Giddey at the controls.

The Warriors’ interest in the Aussie dates back to the 2021 draft, when they were prepared to select him in the event Kuminga was already off the board, per Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.

Now, Golden State would be open to finding a way to swap Giddey for Kuminga, Fischer noted.

The Bulls registered their interest in Kuminga earlier this offseason and have kept tabs on the 6-foot-8 forward’s situation in the Bay Area. Kuminga and his camp have also been pushing for a trade to Chicago this summer, and the team could use a strong, explosive, versatile forward of Kuminga’s ilk.

Karnisovas has reportedly shut down any inquisitions for his franchise point guard, Fischer said, and Giddey remains on track to stay with the Bulls. Given the implausible blunders he’s made already, though, there’s always the chance Karnisovas pivots into an unexpected move.

That would be a worst-case scenario for the franchise and one that would immediately vault to the top of an extensive list of questionable (putting it nicely) decisions the Bulls’ front office has made under his guidance.