In 2021, the Chicago Bulls decided to go all-in on a new core of DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, and Nikola Vucevic. Throw in the role-player pieces of Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso, and the Bulls were off and running. Until they weren’t. An injury to Ball that has still yet to be resolved derailed their season, and now, they’ve spent two years without an above-.500 season.
Heading into the 2024 offseason, big changes should be on the horizon in Chicago. They need to take a long look in the mirror and figure out what they can do to improve their future outlook because their current roster clearly isn’t working.
Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report recently detailed an offseason plan for the Bulls, and in it, he breaks down their potential pathways in free agency.
“If Chicago bets big on continuity again, then financial flexibility isn’t happening,” Buckley wrote. “Should the Bulls choose to bring back DeRozan (unrestricted free agent), Patrick Williams (restricted) and Andre Drummond (unrestricted), they could wind up in the luxury tax. If they don’t, they’d have a better chance of adding external talent. Then again, letting them walk might be a signal that this front office is prioritizing the future and therefore less incentivized to spend now.”
The Bulls need change in a bad way.
