With both Ayo Dosunmu and Coby White approaching unrestricted free agency next summer, the Chicago Bulls may be forced to choose between them sooner than expected.
Team insider K.C. Johnson suggested on The Chicago Lead that the front office will likely explore trade options for one of the guards before the 2025 offseason.
“From my seat they’ve got to try to look to trade either Ayo Dosunmu or Coby White,” Johnson said during the podcast.
The longtime Bulls reporter cited future cap implications as the primary reason, noting it would be difficult to retain both players when their current contracts expire next year.
White, 25, averaged 20.4 points and 4.5 assists per game across 74 starts in the 2024–25 campaign. He’s entering the final season of a three-year, $36 million deal.
Dosunmu, also 25, played in 46 games with 26 starts, posting 12.3 points, 4.5 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per game while shooting nearly 49% from the field. He’s also in the final year of a three-year contract, worth $21 million.
Both guards played integral roles during Chicago’s late-season push to reach the play-in tournament. However, the team was eliminated in the first round by the Miami Heat, marking their third straight early exit from postseason contention.
The Bulls finished 39–43, earning the 9th seed in the East and missing the playoffs for the third year in a row.
Despite stylistic differences in their backcourt approach, both White and Dosunmu are key pieces in the rotation. But Johnson emphasized that financial decisions could outweigh basketball ones, especially in the wake of Desmond Bane trade value implications.
“They value both those players highly,” Johnson said. “They obviously are a big part of how they want to play stylistically… but that’s a front office’s job — to make hard decisions.”
With the 2025 NBA Draft approaching and the Bulls holding the No. 12 pick, any movement involving White or Dosunmu could also be influenced by who’s available in the backcourt class.
