The new-look Bulls slowly are starting to take shape. After a lengthy search for his first coach as head of the front office, Bryson Graham has hired Tiago Splitter for the job. Practically everyone is happy with how things are proceeding.
And yet, there have been proposals that not only would slap bandages over larger problems but also keep the Bulls from acquiring enough young and controllable talent that would fix those problems over the next several years.
One such proposal has been to trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo, whose relationship with the Bucks has deteriorated. It certainly is an enticing idea, which is exactly why the Bulls need to avoid it all costs.
Over the past decade, the Bulls' two previous front offices have taken shortcuts to get the team back into the playoffs. Arturas Karnisovas was in charge for a year when he acquired Nikola Vucevic, DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso. Before that, Gar Forman and John Paxson signed Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo.
Both series of moves resulted in one first-round playoff exit the following season and nothing beyond that. In fact, those are the only times the Bulls have reached the playoffs since they fired Tom Thibodeau.
And yes, the Bulls have more salary cap space than anybody this offseason. However, Antetokounmpo is set to make $58.5 million during the 2026-27 campaign. He also has a player option for the following season worth $62.8 million.
Having Antetokounmpo on the books would keep the Bulls from adequately addressing other areas of need, and they likely would have to give up serious draft capital to make it work. Trading picks is one of the major reasons the previous regime left the Bulls in a bad way.
The Bulls' signal in acquiring Antetokounmpo would be desperation, and it would confuse everybody. Graham has made it clear that the Bulls are entering a rebuild, and Antetokounmpo wouldn't mean anything more than a few more meaningless victories that would put them right back into play-in territory. That wouldn't go over well with anyone in a disgruntled fan base.
Perhaps the biggest reason any Antetokounmpo discussion should be squashed immediately is that barring something unexpected in the first three picks of the NBA draft, the Bulls likely will take Caleb Wilson at No. 4. Wilson plays the same position as Antetokounmpo, so unless Splitter plans to keep him on the bench a lot as Billy Donovan tended to do with rookies, it makes no sense to have both on the roster.
There's no logical scenario in which the 2026-27 Bulls are or should be trying to win now. They finally are heading in the direction they should be, which is building from the ground up. Any proposal going against that would do nothing less than set the franchise back further.
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