The best way to describe the Artūras Karnišovas era of Chicago Bulls basketball is like if you were trying to teach a toddler quantum mechanics, it doesn’t make any sense.
Karnišovas was hired by the Bulls in April of 2020 as Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, overseeing the once bright future of a major basketball market and in the beginning, it almost looked like the Bulls had it all figured out, key word is almost.
The 2021 offseason for the Bulls was cinematic in a way, with the signings of Lonzo Ball, Demar Derozan and Alex Caruso, the Bulls stepped into the 2021 season with mild expectations.
By the all-star break, the Bulls had a record of 38-21, standing atop the Eastern Conference, before a Lonzo Ball knee injury shot down any expectation of the team competing for a championship.
Injuries are one thing, but terrible front office moves are another thing and Karnišovas started his reign of terror on the Bulls franchise after the conclusion of the 2021-22 season, which ultimately continued until his firing in April of 2026.
For starters, I want to make it very clear that I’ve never seen a front office executive be so stubborn in my life. For a year and a half, the Bulls did not make a single trade or roster move, not during free agency, or both of the trade deadlines they had available.
Instead, Karnišovas opted to stick with a dead horse if I could describe it best, for three straight seasons after their short, but magical 2021 season, the Bulls finished no better than ninth in the Eastern Conference, with records of 40-42 and back to back seasons with a 39-43 finish in 2024 and 2025.
As bad as that three year stretch was for the Bulls, nothing could prepare fans for what they were about to witness in 2026, it really didn’t make any sense.
The Bulls opened the 2025-26 season with a 5-0 record, with dramatic wins against some solid NBA teams. Unfortunately for Bulls fans, those five games would be the best five games that they would watch for the entire season.
By the NBA trade deadline, the Bulls were sitting with a 24-27 record, merely a game outside of 10th place in the Eastern Conference, and then all hell broke loose.
The trades that were made by Karnišovas and the front office were headscratching and unexplainable. Imagine trading your starting center and a pair of guards for a total compensation of four guards that do nothing but flood your backcourt and your roster.
To make matters worse, Karnišovas traded away fan favorite and Chicago native Ayo Dosunmu, a young, promising star on the rise in the NBA, who would’ve taken a hometown discount on his contract extension, for four measly second round picks and a pair of raw young talent.
In hindsight, the discombobulation that the Bulls turned into after those moves, may have saved their franchise in a weird way, and here’s how.
The NBA is cracking down hard on tanking and if you take a look at the draft lottery odds, the same teams sitting in good position for a top pick are the same teams that have been frustrating the NBA for years, which is the sole purpose of the league’s new anti-tanking rules.
If you believe that certain events are rigged in ways that are simply unexplainable, then you should know that the NBA has had a few moments that make you think things over twice.
Specifically speaking, you can’t tell me that the Dallas Mavericks weren’t promised the #1 overall draft pick after trading superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for an injury prone Anthony Davis and a first round draft pick, you also can’t tell me that the Cavs weren’t gifted the #1 overall pick in 2003, ultimately landing them LeBron James.
Sports are weird, there is so much money riding behind these major sports leagues and corporations and from the Bulls perspective, they have been operating as a small market team instead of the big market that they have to offer.
You’re telling me that the NBA is happy with the way the Bulls are running their ship? A franchise with as many greats as the Bulls have had (Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, Grant, Gilmore, Rose, etc), it’s not crazy to think commissioner Adam Silver pulls another trick out of his hat, swinging in the Bulls favor.
The Bulls and their fans are desperate to be able to say they have a future and to tell the truth, the NBA is a fantastic sport when historic franchises are good, including the Bulls.
The Bulls currently have just a 4.5% chance of landing the #1 pick in tomorrow’s Draft Lottery, but since the franchise has locked in the ninth best odds, they avoid a coin-flip with the Milwaukee Bucks, the same coin-flip that the Bulls lost to the Mavericks last season, which gave Dallas the #1 pick and superstar rookie Cooper Flagg.
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