It looks certain that Chicago Bulls vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas will be altering the roster for the next season.
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“We will not settle for mediocrity here,” Karnisovas said in his first end-of-season press conference.
The Bulls ended the regular season a 31-41 record as they missed the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season.
“We place expectations on our team about winning games,” Karnisovas said. “We are certainly not satisfied. But we will learn from it, adjust and make sure what did not go well does not happen again.
“We will continue being aggressive in our efforts to make this team better, whether that’s through trades, free agency or the draft.”
However, Chicago do not have a first-round pick this year, in fact the next pick they’re allowed to trade comes all the way in 2026.
They will fight to keep Zach LaVine when he is officially a free agent, and LaVine will likely make the Bulls sweat a little but is probable to ink a new deal.
That is because he has leverage and knows that he is being used as the cornerstone of the team going forward.
Another player they will look to keep is Finland international star, Lauri Markkanen.
The 7-footer is coming off a career year on offense with highs in field goal percentage (47.9%), three-point percentage (39.4%), true shooting percentage (61.4%) and effective field goal percentage (58.8%).
“I think Lauri is an essential part of our team, and we hope he is part of what we’re building here,” Karnisovas said.
But a question remains is how the Finn fits long term alongside Montenegrin Nikola Vucevic, and whether Chicago wants to commit big money to a player who is essentially a sixth man.
Markkanen started the first 23 games this season, including the first game with Vucevic in the line-up, but was relocated to the bench the following game.
But with holes in the squad, especially at point guard to fill, Karnisovas knows what he has to do and wants his squad to improve for next season.
“We’re going to add talent to our roster and from there get better and come back improved and better so we don’t have to sit out another postseason,” Karnisovas said.
“I don’t like to watch postseason games now just because I’m not happy that we’re not in it. I’m a competitive guy. Talking to all the players, they’re disappointed. We’re disappointed. And we’re going into the next season to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
