The Chicago Bulls are preparing for the final sprint to the trade deadline.
From season to season, the NBA schedule always possesses certain rhythms. The weeks after New Year’s Day always adopt the same downhill momentum, gradually building speed as the entire focus of the league rolls toward the Feb. 5 trade deadline. And for once, the Bulls could let themselves get caught up in the commotion.
The Bulls already are labeled as one of the most prolific sellers in this year’s trade market. This is certainly a change for a front office that once went three straight years without making a single in-season trade. The shift reflects the team’s goals since the summer — using this season as a transitional period to offload contracts and reset the books to take another crack at roster construction this summer.
There’s a gaping chasm, however, between being a seller and actually closing a deal. The Bulls have seven expiring contracts to potentially offload. Can they complete any of those moves? What should they expect in return? And can a flurry of trade activity actually build a foundation for the future?
Here are four questions for the Bulls ahead of the impending trade deadline.
1. Will injuries hurt Coby White’s trade value?
The Bulls spent years dodging a trade for White. But if it’s time for a split to finally happen, the timing couldn’t be worse.
White, who turns 26 next month, has played in only 16 games this season. He exited Monday’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves with yet another resurgence of a right calf injury, and the Bulls have shut him down for at least a week. It’s unclear when — or how — White will kick his lingering calf discomfort despite fervent attempts by both player and team to mitigate the issue. His scoring hasn’t dipped in those few appearances, but the guard has struggled to rebuild his conditioning while shooting a career-low 32.4% from 3-point range — a drop-off from his 36.9% career percentage entering this season.
A lingering injury won’t tank White’s overall valuation. His reputation as a sturdy player remains strong in the league, which has operated with increased wariness as a whole surrounding calf injuries this season because of a spike in stars suffering torn Achilles tendons. But White’s inability to stay healthy this season could complicate — if not fully derail — any attempts by the Bulls to trade the guard at the deadline.
For teams looking to buy, there is only one reason to make a bid for White: his immediate availability.
The guard will hit unrestricted free agency in the offseason. Any team interested in making a long-term commitment to White could simply wait for the summer. A trade-deadline offer would need to come from a team that sees the guard as a valuable addition to their playoff push in 2026. But that’s a hard sell when a player has missed more than half the season and still hasn’t recovered from his original injury.
If the Bulls want to land this deal, White needs to get back on the court. He will be reevaluated Wednesday, at which point there will be 14 games left before the trade deadline. If White participates — and looks like himself — in the majority of those games, then the Bulls shouldn’t have a problem finding a buyer for the guard. But another setback could undermine any faith in White’s ability to return for serious postseason basketball.
2. Who are the most tradeable assets on the Bulls?
Outside of White, the Bulls have a fairly diverse selection of tradable assets — in part due to the relative success of that deadline move for Zach LaVine last February.
Although he’s often cited as a priority to trade, Nikola Vučević isn’t the asset he used to be in the waning months of his time in Chicago. That doesn’t mean the Bulls can’t move Vučević, 35, but his main value on the market at this time would be the expiration date of his contract.
What the Bulls can offer between Vučević and the rest of their contracts are a series of interesting packages. The Bulls have a bevy of role players at their disposal — Kevin Huerter, Zach Collins, Ayo Dosunmu, Jalen Smith — who can be parceled together neatly. None of these players is enough to move the needle on his own — unless the Bulls are attempting a third consecutive player-for-player trade — but there are many combinations that ultimately could provide a much greater value as the sum of their parts.
(Not for nothing, Collins and Huerter were acquired in identical fashion last February. Huerter’s trade value has remained level, if not outright improved, as he returned to shooting form, while Collins’ continued streak of injuries might color his value as an athletic, physical center prospect.)
3. Is Josh Giddey on the table?
Not happening.
… unless?
No, seriously, not happening. The Bulls are building around Giddey, which is an important piece of framework to keep in mind when considering what the team will request in trades.
What do the Bulls need to build success around Giddey? Their top priorities likely include improved rim protection and above-the-rim offense, higher-volume 3-point shooting and stalwart perimeter defenders. While Giddey is an effusive source of creativity with the ball in his hands, he still could use support in that department, especially if White is moved.
In turn, the Bulls certainly can’t afford to invest in more defensive liabilities. Even White — who has improved his defense to passable status — isn’t always the best pairing with Giddey because of the resulting lack of defensive resistance at the perimeter. This has been a clear priority with recent draft picks Noa Essengue and Matas Buzelis, who both are prized for their defensive potential. That pattern must continue if the Bulls ever hope to obscure Giddey’s greatest weakness.
4. What returns should the Bulls prioritize?
The Bulls’ decision to stand pat at past trade deadlines wasn’t arbitrary. The front office is incredibly wary about the prospect of underselling its assets. This has backfired many times, perhaps most notably when the front office failed to clinch any deal for Vučević last season during the highest-value run of his Bulls tenure. Sometimes, turning down a “bad” deal means a player ultimately walks for free.
This reticence reflects two key traits of the front office: a deep belief in the value of players on the roster and a deep fear of making a mistake. Those two traits, for better or worse, have defined the construction of the Bulls for five years. So how does a front office this wary of getting fleeced tackle a deadline in which it’s meant to be a major player?
The key to surviving the next four weeks lies in making intentional priorities — and sticking to them.
This is not a time to go big-game hunting. The Bulls need to reset their timeline. If they succeed in moving White, their center of gravity will be fully recalibrated around a 23-year-old (Giddey) and a 21-year-old (Buzelis), who are both under contract through at least the 2028-29 season. That’s the timeline. That’s the template.
There are — obviously — a few exceptions to this rule. Most of those exceptions are not available at this deadline or not accessible for the Bulls, i.e. the (recently cooled) Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes. But in the market’s current landscape, the Bulls need to look for young, developing talent — whether that comes in the form of a draft pick or a very young active player.
This absolutely can (and should) translate to taking on bad contracts to acquire draft picks. The Bulls are in a decent position to absorb some dead money in exchange for future investments. (Again, seven expiring contracts.) But they can’t get caught up looking for a short-term solution that derails their long-term plan of development.
