This week, the Chicago Bulls and Charlotte Hornets completed multiple trades in an effort to take the next step in their development.
The biggest decision the Hornets made was to send Collin Sexton to the Bulls for Coby White. Charlotte had high expectations for Sexton, who quickly ingratiated himself with their core. Nevertheless, Kon Knueppel‘s rise and Hornets head coach Charles Lee’s soft spot for Sion James pushed Sexton from starter to the fourth player off the bench. Because he’s more comfortable pulling up from 3, White could have greater success in Lee’s system. However, because of a right calf injury, he wasn’t expected to make his team debut until after the All-Star Break.
Bulls, Hornets Change Coby White-Collin Sexton Trade
Just hours ago, it was revealed that Bulls and Hornets have made changes to the original trade parameters “after a physical showed White had a left calf injury and would have to miss time,” per The Athletic’s Fred Katz.
While Chicago retains the two 2031 picks that they received from Charlotte (via the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets), they no longer get the 2029 second-round pick. That second-rounder would have been the lesser of the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat’s picks, which the Hornets received from the Oklahoma City Thunder when they traded Mason Plumlee for Ousmane Dieng. Dieng was then re-routed to the Bulls as part of their package for White (and Conley) before diverted to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of a three-team deal involving the Phoenix Suns, Chicago acquiring Nick Richards in the process.
Chicago Still Won The Trade
People may look at this situation as evidence of Arturas Karnisovas’s continued inadequacy as the Bulls’ lead decision-maker. After all, he’s just 219-233 as the team’s architect, Chicago winning just three playoff games since 2020-21. Nonetheless, the Bulls ultimately traded White, Conley, and Dieng for Sexton, Richards and two second-round picks.
Keep in mind that Conley didn’t intend on playing for the Bulls, as NBA on Prime insider Chris Haynes relayed. Meanwhile, Dieng is an enticing player due to his age (22) and versatile tool kit. Even so, he ranks outside the top-30 among his draft class in career points (568), rebounds (279) and assists (142). Furthermore, White has a noticeably lower career scoring average (15.4 points per game), field goal percentage (.433) and 3-point percentage (.368) than Sexton.
In other words, Chicago may have very well won the trade.
Again, comparing respective bodies of work, it’s possible that Sexton is better than White. Yet, he’ll likely demand a lower number than White in free agency. In the three-season stretch preceding 2025-26, Richards averaged 9.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. At 6-foot-11 and 245 pounds, he also adds necessary size to the Bulls’ center rotation. The cherry on top was receiving multiple second-rounders.
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