Chicago Bulls: 3 reasons why the front office needs to pay Coby White now

If you told me that I would be arguing in favor of the Chicago Bulls front office paying Coby White a year ago, I would’ve questioned your sobriety.

Perhaps that is another telling example of Chicagoan impatience, because here we are.

Casual fans may not realize that Coby White had a career-defining year for the Chicago Bulls this year if they looked purely at statistics, but those who watched White this year as well as previous years know differently.

Coby White’s game evolved at a rapid pace this past season. He is almost unrecognizable compared to the player whom I thought I knew after his first three years in the Windy City.

Chicago Bulls guard Coby White is set to be a restricted free agent this offseason; the front office needs to avoid that process by giving White his bag

In years past, Coby would fill it up in spurts, but his play was sporadic at best. While he posted a career-best 15.1 PPG and 4.8 APG in 2020-21, he also posted a career-worst 2.1 turnovers per game.

It was more than the stats. If you watched Chicago Bulls guard Coby White play often, far too frequently he looked lost. He was an enormous defensive liability with a penchant for killing possessions with his erratic play.

It’s no wonder, then, why rumors swirled constantly that the Chicago Bulls were looking to trade Coby White. He no longer seemed to be in the team’s long-term plans.

While there is plenty of room to criticize Artūras Karnišovas and Marc Eversley (collectively known as AKME) for their construction of the Bulls roster, I must give them their flowers for not trading our budding prospect, but they shouldn’t stop there.

AKME needs to pay the man now. While the 23-year-old (!) Coby White took a big step in his development this season, he is just scratching the surface of what he could become.