Four Recent Whiffs by Bulls’ Front Office That Explain Decision to Fire GM, VP

Artūras Karnišovas and Marc Eversley both joined the Bulls in 2020, but didn’t see much success while in Chicago.

The Bulls dismissed executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas and general manager Marc Eversley after the team missed the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

The Bulls fired both executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas and general manager Marc Eversley on Monday, ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported. Bulls CEO and president Michael Reinsdorf made the decision to dismiss both of these front office figures.

Chicago will be searching for replacements this offseason, which will start next week for the Bulls. The team was officially eliminated from playoff contention last week and currently holds a record of 29–49 with four games remaining in the schedule. This is the fourth straight season in which the Bulls missed the playoffs.

“These decisions are never easy, especially when they involve people we respect both personally and professionally,” Reinsdorf said in a statement on Monday. “We are grateful for their dedication and the work they've put in over the past six years. At the same time, we have not had the success our fans deserve, and it's my responsibility to go in a new direction.

“This move is about positioning our team for sustained success moving ahead. I want our fans to know that I hear you and understand your frustration. I feel it as well. I know this will take time, and I am fully committed to getting this right. At the Chicago Bulls, our focus remains on building a team that can compete at the highest level and ultimately contend for championships. We are committed to taking the necessary steps to move the Bulls forward in a way that makes our fans proud.”

The Chicago Bulls announced today that Artūras Karnišovas, Executive Vice President - Basketball Operations and Marc Eversley, General Manager have been relieved of their positions. pic.twitter.com/nFFK0U66ng

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) April 6, 2026

Since Karnišovas and Eversley both joined in 2020, the Bulls posted a 224–254 overall record and only reached the postseason once, resulting in a first-round loss during the 2021–22 season. This was also the only winning season the Bulls produced under Karnišovas and Eversley.

Notable moves by Bulls that didn’t pan out since hiring Karnišovas and Eversley

Karnišovas and Eversley were hired together in May 2020, with Eversley reporting to Karnišovas. Obviously the work they did together didn’t meet the franchise’s standards. The roster they built failed to compete in the East outside of a few play-in tournament appearances.

As such the list of moves they made that didn’t pan out is fairly lengthy. Here are the highlights—or, rather lowlights—of Karnišovas and Eversley’s failed tenure in Chicago.

2021: Trading Wendell Carter Jr., two first-round picks to Magic for Nikola Vučević

Vučević is a good player and his production was solid over four-and-a-half seasons for the Bulls. But the trade was a flop. He didn’t elevate the team to contention the way Chicago hoped he would. Furthermore, Carter Jr. wound up a perfectly acceptable two-way center (which is what the Bulls ended up missing even with Vučević on the roster) and Orlando used Chicago’s 2021 first-round pick to select Franz Wagner—the archetypical young wing that every team desperately wants nowadays. Trading multiple firsts and a young player for a decent-but-not-spectacular center who failed to make an All-Star team after coming to town is not ideal.

2022: Signed Zach LaVine to $215 million extension

LaVine’s max contract has turned into one of the worst in the NBA. He inked the massive deal with Chicago during the 2022 offseason and it was all downhill from there. The shooting guard posted consistently high counting stats but his efficiency was bad, his defense even worse and as a result he couldn’t lead the Bulls to wins. It was considered such a bad deal the team couldn’t find any takers when it was time for LaVine to leave town, and they wound up dumping him for Kevin Huerter (who was traded at this year’s deadline).

2024: Signed Patrick Williams to $90 million extension

Williams is one of the least impactful players in the NBA today. He averages 6.6 points per game this year while pulling down only 2.8 boards per night (while being listed as a power forward) in nearly 20 minutes per game. His counting stats were better back when Chicago signed him to an extension worth $18 million annually, but it was obvious from the moment the news broke the Bulls were way too optimistic about his potential. Two years later that feels even more true.

2024: Traded DeMar DeRozan for cash, Chris Duarte, second-round pick

Similar to the LaVine situation above, the Bulls backed themselves into a corner with DeRozan and had to take a paltry trade offer to get rid of him. In this case Chicago ditched DeRozan for Duarte, who was so bad the Bulls waived him six months later and now plays in Spain. Keeping DeRozan wouldn’t have changed the franchise’s fortunes but in regards to asset management, it was another poor decision by Karnišovas and Eversley.

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