The Chicago Bulls have been a middling team for the past several seasons, and a missed trade could have fixed that.
The Chicago Bulls, for the third season in a row, landed in the NBA play-in tournament, signaling long-standing mediocrity in the Windy City.
While the Bulls have some promising young players in Josh Giddey, Coby White, Matas Buzelis, and Patrick Williams, they are not expected to make any noise anytime soon. In recent years, they have tried to build around DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, and Nikola Vucevic, although they have been unable to escape the middle of the pack.
Last offseason, they swapped All-Defensive guard Alex Caruso for Giddey with the Oklahoma City Thunder. While Giddey has shown promise, the Bulls clearly lost the trade, being unable to add any of the Thunder’s draft picks.
However, the trade for Giddey was not the first offer they received for Caruso.
Bulls could have made a trade with the Warriors
As the Golden State Warriors tried to capture the same magic they found in 2022, it became quickly apparent that Klay Thompson was not the All-Defensive player he once was, and the Dubs could have bolstered their defense.
Before the 2024 trade deadline, the Warriors reportedly offered Jonathan Kuminga for Caruso.
“In exploratory trade talks with the Golden State Warriors centered on Caruso, league sources said the Bulls inquired about Jonathan Kuminga’s availability,” Bulls’ insider KC Johnson reported in 2024.
“That was rebuffed, and the Bulls made clear in talks with all teams that they didn’t want to trade Caruso, especially for a package on perhaps other young pieces like Moses Moody, so they’d need to be floored by an offer to do so.”
A package of Kuminga and Moody, perhaps even draft capital, would have given Chicago a more well-rounded roster at the very least, and the Bulls should have taken the deal when it was offered.
Bulls could have competed in the East
The Eastern Conference has always been weak, although in recent seasons it has taken yet another step back.
Had the Bulls made the deal with the Warriors, they would have trotted out a lineup this season of Coby White, Zach LaVine, Moses Moody, Jonathan Kuminga, and Vucevic. Lonzo Ball, Patrick Williams, and Ayo Dosunmu could have come off the bench.
While that team is not a title-winner–the rim-protection is still weak–they are much-improved and more well-rounded than the current iteration of the Bulls, who missed out on both the postseason and a top pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Giddey has shown flashes with the Bulls, but his tenure with the Thunder made it clear that his defensive weaknesses make it hard to build around him. Kuminga and Moody are far from being stars, but they would have rounded out a very shallow roster in Chicago.
