The Chicago Bulls are trying their best.
They’re trying as hard as they can to win games. They’re also trying their best to trade veterans Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, which runs counter to their first goal. However, like 2020 No. 4 pick Patrick Williams, their best hasn’t been good enough. At 18-24, the Bulls are currently 10th in the Eastern Conference standings. LaVine and Vucevic are playing some of the best ball of their careers, which has their names whispered in the wind but hasn’t gotten them out of the Windy City.
It’s not just LaVine and Vucevic on the trade block though. Bulls executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas “finally has bought in to the idea” that Williams “needs a change of scenery, opening the door for him to be on the trade block,” per Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Does Bulls’ Desire To Trade Patrick Williams Make Sense?
Williams isn’t playing the way that a top-five pick is expected to. In fact, when looking at the last five draft classes, his career scoring average (9.7 PPG) ranks 20th among top-five picks.
Compared to James Wiseman (9.1 PPG), Isaac Okoro (8.2 PPG), Ausar Thompson (8.5 PPG), Ron Holland (6.4 PPG), and Reed Sheppard (3.2 PPG), he’s doing well. He’s even shooting 40.1 percent from three, a better mark than each of the aforementioned players. At the other end, he doesn’t have the reputation of Okoro or Thompson but he’s regarded as a defensive weapon.
In other words, he’s a below-average player relative to his draft position but not in a vacuum. The Bulls can be perplexed by his passive nature. They can be dismayed by his lack of development. What they can’t do is miss the forest for the trees. He isn’t what they hoped he would be but he’s still a valuable piece. Furthermore, as there’s only one ball, it’s not as if every player would get a lot of touches.
With LaVine, Vucevic, and Coby White alongside him in the starting lineup, his willingness to be a role player is actually beneficial.
Removing The Restrictions
The Bulls may just prefer to move off Williams’s contract.
After signing him to a five-year, $90 million extension last year, he’ll be paid $18 million per season through 2028-29. That number seems high but it isn’t too steep. Just consider, he’s making as much as 32-year-old San Antonio Spurs veteran Harrison Barnes in 2024-25. Nonetheless, if they can get his salary off their books, they could have $35.4 million in cap space this summer. That would rank third in the NBA, behind just the Brooklyn Nets ($91.8 million) and Washington Wizards ($41.6 million).
The upcoming free agent class isn’t the best there’s ever been but there are still valuable players.
Golden State forward Jonathan Kuminga, who’ll be a restricted free agent, could be an option. Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas, who inspires images of former Bulls standout Ben Gordon, will also be a restricted free agent. They might be able to convince Dallas Mavericks wing Quentin Grimes to jump ship as a restricted free agent. As each of these players are under 25 years old, they’re not just talented pieces but fit the Bulls’ youth movement.
