TORONTO — The night before he was traded to the Charlotte Hornets, Coby White couldn’t hide the fact he was grappling with change.
As he spoke with reporters after a Chicago Bulls loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, White remained as taciturn as always about his future with the trade deadline approaching. He reiterated his commitment to the Bulls and his desire to remain in Chicago for the long term. He bemoaned the loss of Nikola Vučević and Kevin Huerter via trades hours earlier.
But even as White squared his shoulders to assume the stalwart stance of the team leader, the frustration and exhaustion of the deadline won out.
“It’s part of the business, so we’re supposed to be robots about it, I guess,” White said, his voice adopting a sarcastic sharpness that cut through his otherwise level demeanor.
White didn’t know he would be traded less than 24 hours later, sent to his home state Wednesday to play for a Hornets team on the rise in the Eastern Conference. But he knew, of course, that his time with the Bulls could be nearing its end.
Speculation and rumors dominated the ecosystem around the 25-year-old guard for months. And even if he wanted to stay, White also understood the positive potential of leaving.
That didn’t make any of this easier. White spent most of this season battling calf injuries that first cropped up during midsummer workouts, and he missed a total of 22 games. It took weeks for his shot to come back, for his fitness to catch up.
By that time, White was embroiled in trade conversations that eventually led to his exit. At the time of the trade, he was averaging 18.6 points — nearly two points below his career-high 20.4 average from last season.
But despite that frustration, White’s feelings about the Bulls were the same at the end of his tenure as they were at the beginning: He just wanted the team to win.
“I want this team to do nothing but succeed,” he said. “Whatever they feel is best for the team, you know what I’m saying? I just want to see everybody here win.”
When the Bulls traded White, they severed the final tie to the former administration under Gar Forman and John Paxson. White was the longest-tenured player on the roster, spending nearly seven years in Chicago since his draft day in 2019.
Those years were hard. The Bulls were 22-43 when his rookie season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. White weathered the firing of his coach and general manager, the introductions of Billy Donovan and Artūras Karnišovas, the passage of DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso and Zach LaVine and, now, Vučević. In the process, he found himself.
His growth came as the byproduct of scant success. White experienced only one playoff appearance in 2022, a short-lived first-round series against the Bucks. But those losses — and White’s relative ineffectiveness in them — served as a catalyst.
White set an intention after the 2021-22 season to better himself as a player and teammate, working on his physique and ballhandling in the offseason to transform into a well-rounded combo guard. It took two years, but that breakout finally came in 2023-24, when he doubled his points and assists to finish second in Most Improved Player voting. By the time the Bulls traded LaVine last February, White felt ready to take the reins.
But White never was going to be The Guy in Chicago. Even in the midst of his MIP campaign, Bulls executives privately believed he always would be a piece to build with, not around. The front office responded to that breakout season by immediately acquiring Josh Giddey and recalibrating their plans around the point guard. White was a constant, a touchstone, a captain. But he never was the future.
After seven years of investment from both sides, the Bulls have to ask themselves what it all meant. White grew significantly in Chicago, from a promising scorer coming out of North Carolina to a genuine playmaker capable of anchoring a lineup. But for all that effort, the Bulls received only three second-round draft picks, Collin Sexton’s expiring contract and a flyer on 22-year-old forward Ousmane Dieng in exchange for White.
The front office heavily pursued a first-round pick for White, a league source said, but that never came to fruition. The Bulls likely missed White’s hottest market last season, when he still had a year left on his favorable contract and his value hadn’t been tainted by the uncertainty of his lingering injuries. It’s unclear what they gained in return for that extra year with White.
Now the Bulls have a roster missing an intangible asset: its leader.
For years, White held the Bulls together. He was hard on himself and kind to others. He pranked teammates during media days. He squared up when games got chippy. He raised his voice in a locker room often known for being quiet. In media interviews, he made time to praise each teammate by name. His booming laugh became a consistent soundtrack in the locker room.
For seven years, the Bulls had a heartbeat. It will take a long time to replace as the franchise digs into the messy, complicated work of a rebuild.
That’s not a reason to keep a player. Emotion can’t win on its own. But White’s devotion to the Bulls is something this team — and its fan base — will miss long after No. 0 has left Chicago.
