INSTANT GRADE: Bulls Reportedly Acquire Draft Picks in Trade with Kings & Cavaliers

The Chicago Bulls have made their first trade of 2026!

Moments after the team finished their meeting with the Miami Heat in South Beach, news broke that the Bulls joined the Sacramento Kings and Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team transaction. The trade will see the Cavaliers' De'Andre Hunter head to the Kings in exchange for Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis. To make the logistics work, the Bulls joined in to take back veteran Dario Saric, as well as two second-round picks. The trade was first announced by ESPN's Shams Charania.

The Athletic's Sam Amick went on to confirm the deal, adding that the Bulls will receive a 2027 second-rounder from the Cavaliers and a 2029 second-rounder from the Kings. For what it's worth, RealGM notes that the 2027 pick coming from Cleveland originally belonged to the Denver Nuggets. As for the Kings' pick, it is currently said to be the least favorable of Detroit, Milwaukee, and New York.

The Chicago Bulls currently sit at 15 full roster spots, which means they will waive Jevon Carter to be able to add Saric, per Charania. As for his $5.4 million salary, the Bulls are able to absorb that into their Traded Player Exception, which was originally created in last season's Zach LaVine deal.

For what it's worth, Saric has only appeared in five games this season and hasn't played since December 20. In other words, the Bulls did this in an effort to secure the future draft capital. The chance of Saric seeing meaningful minutes this season is low.

Grading Chicago Bulls' First Trade of the Year

While the Chicago Bulls' part in this trade is small, it could very well turn heads across the league. This is the exact kind of transaction that a team with Chicago's level of flexibility should pursue. The Kings and Cavaliers needed help piecing this together, so the Bulls raised their hand and made it work in exchange for a small fee.

Indeed, Arturas Karnisovas and Company put a traded player exception to use and thus gave up nothing in return. All they walk away with is an extra pair of picks to bump their arsenal of future second-rounders to seven. For what it's worth, prior to this deal, the Bulls' earliest available second-rounder wasn't until 2028. They have now moved that up a year.

Over the last couple of weeks, there has been a lot of chatter about which direction the Chicago Bulls might go at the trade deadline. While many have believed that taking a step back and selling off assets is in their best interest, this has not been their typical line of thinking in recent years.

What tonight's trade suggests, however, is that they may finally be ready to embrace that approach. Acting as a facilitator for the sake of adding draft capital is a savvy move that we have seen countless rebuilding teams make. Does this mean the Bulls are for sure destined for a full-blown rebuild? No. But it at least tells other teams around the league that they are willing to put their current flexibility to use in an effort to improve their long-term trajectory. It's just good business.

GRADE: A

PS: It sure feels worth mentioning that this move comes only hours after we discussed how the Bulls may have made their deadline intentions more clear.