The Chicago Bulls have been in a strange stage for several seasons now. Not good enough to compete, and not bad enough to tank for higher draft picks, many fans have chosen to place the blame on Vice President of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas, who has been responsible for many of the team’s moves.
Recently, the Bulls have seemingly picked a direction finally. Lonzo Ball, DeMar DeRozan, and Zach LaVine are all on different teams now, and the Bulls seem to be prioritizing their younger talent for the future.
Bulls big man defended Karnisovas in a recent interview
So far, the Bulls haven’t done anything notable this offseason, and have been largely focused on contract negotiations with Josh Giddey. In light of this, Bulls center Nikola Vucevic spoke with BasketNews to defend his team’s V.P. Of Basketball Operations.
“We have good communication,” Vucevic said. “He has always been pretty open with me. Even just a couple of weeks ago, when the buyout news came out, he actually texted me to tell me not to worry about it and not to read into it.”
Vucevic also added that Karnisovas had made some positive additions when he first arrived in Chicago in 2020.
“When he first got there, I thought he made some very good moves,” Vucevic said. “I thought it was a very good team; it just did not work out.”
Obviously, that era of Bulls basketball is over, and the Bulls enter next season as a mystery. Without a true young franchise cornerstone to build around, the Bulls could be entering a bit of a transitional year in 2025-26, with a larger focus on the future rather than the present.
