2 Trades That Could Salvage the Chicago Bulls—With Fantasy Basketball Fallout

The Treadmill of Mediocrity is a uniquely NBA phenomenon that can be explained as such:

“Your franchise is good enough to sneak into the playoffs or the Play-In Tournament but not good enough to advance. This situation leaves said franchise without enough championship potential to attract high-level free agents, and a mid-first-round draft pick that won’t move enough needles to get out of the cycle.”

The Chicago Bulls are there.

Only once in the last eight seasons have the Bulls managed to post a .500-plus record, that being their 46-36 campaign in 2021-22. The combined record in the other seven seasons in question?

It was 261-368, which shakes out to a winning percentage of .415.

Admittedly, .415 is sub-mediocre, but over the last three years, the Bulls—with their 118-128 record and back-to-back-to-back Play-In flameouts—have been the Association’s poster children for meh.

Sadly, Chicago’s front office—led by an embarrassing executive whose name I refuse to utter aloud, so let’s call him Voldemort—has painted them into a corner, building a wildly imbalanced roster, not acquiring any useful draft capital, and jacking up their salary cap.

Oh, and lest we forget, his head coach Billy Donovan—who the eye test leads us to believe has somewhat lost the locker room—is signed to a long-term contract, and ownership has yet to show any inclination to let him go.

That said, Voldemort always has talent in his locker room, so much talent that his teams never straight-up blow. You won’t lose more than 45 games if the likes of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Coby White, or Nikola Vucevic are on the ledger.

So thanks to Voldemort’s mismanagement, the Chicago Bulls have no flexibility, no extra draft picks, no financial wiggle room…and no brains or balls from the decision-makers.

But believe it or not, they might be able to forge a positive path forward.

First West, Then North

"I think this offseason might be the most craziest ever. Because I think what you have right now is—the parity of the league, it's so thin right now. As far as the line of, you could win a championship, or you might be falling into the lottery. And I think the ability to go out there and improve your team and get there to the championship level, I think that's on the minds of everyone around the league."

So said NBA insider Shams Charania, and if Shams is right—and he generally is—there could be a whole lot of teams open for business this spring and summer.

Chicago Bulls Nation is well aware that Voldemort is garbage at business, but maybe, just maybe, he can find the intestinal fortitude to pull off a couple of slick trades that could turn a 39-win team into a 43-win team.

Baby steps.

Firstly, let’s train our eyes west, where the Golden State Warriors are coming off of a disappointing campaign, and stars Steph Curry and Draymond Green nearing the end of their careers, and a somewhat aging Jimmy Butler boasts a contract that runs through 2026-27.

That all being the case, the Dubs are in win-now mode, and their current group—as borne out by their just-above-treadmill-level 2024-25—can’t.

Golden State’s biggest hole is in the middle, where—since Kevon Looney and Trayce Jackson-Davis aren’t the second coming of legit defenders like Bill Russell and Ben Wallace—the 6’6” Green is forced to guard the likes of Domantis Sabonis (6’10”) Nikola Jokic (6’11”), and Victor Wembanyama (7’3”). Considering the team allowed 113.9 points per game during the 2024-25 regular season—13th in the league; not bad but not championship-level—this particular arrangement isn’t working.

So wouldn’t Dubs coach Steve Kerr be psyched if he landed a proven veteran to plug in at the five spot? Maybe said five won’t be the greatest defender on the court, but if he can slow down the Jokers and the Wembys of the world to the point that Green could wreak havoc as a double-teamer, that’s a win. Oh, and if the new arrival can score and rebound, so much the better.

Turns out the Bulls have just that guy, which is why a deal like this might make everybody happy:

CHICAGO BULLS RECEIVE

Jonathan Kuminga (sign-and-trade)

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS RECEIVE

Nikola Vucevic

Sure, there’ll need to be some other players involved to make the money work—I’ll let John Hollinger deal with that mess—but it can and should be figured out, because this makes sense for both teams:

The Warriors get a consistent double-double machine who would make life at least somewhat difficult for opposing centers. And with Curry, Butler, and Green starving for a late-career ring run, somewhat difficult might be enough to get the Dubs back into the championship conversation.

For their part, the Bulls land a potential-laden 22-year-old who fits their timeline and would slide in neatly next to soon-to-be-sophomore Matas Buzelis.

Oh, and as reported by The Athletic, Kuminga wants out of the Bay Area:

"Kuminga, league sources said, still has visions of becoming an All-Star, not fitting into an ever-moving mid-tier rotation role.He wants to be a featured player in an NBA offense and chase the 20-point-and-beyond dreams he’s spent his life chasing, and the last week of his fourth season tasting. There isn’t an irreconcilable player-and-coach or player-and-organization personality clash, league sources said. This is all about finding the contract and opportunity Kuminga craves."

Welcome to Chicago, Jonathan.

Meanwhile, up in Toronto, the Raptors might be looking to move on from R.J. Barrett. Yeah, the eighth-year man out of Duke is coming off of easily the best two-year stretch of his career, but it doesn’t seem like the Raps are eager to give him a hefty long-term deal.

So howzabout we do this:

CHICAGO BULLS RECEIVE

R.J. Barrett

Draft considerations

TORONTO RAPTORS RECEIVE

Coby White

Patrick Williams

Sure, White is probably the Bulls’ best player, but he’ll also be due for a new contract after the 2025-26 season, and Chicago hasn’t been a particularly good team with the former Tar Heel at the helm, so why not turn the keys of the car over to Josh Giddey and Ayo Dosunmu?

And if Voldemort can jettison massively underachieving Patrick Williams and his silly five-year, $90 million contract, well, that alone is worth the price of admission.

So then Chicago would roll into the 2025-26 season with this:

PG: Josh Giddey / Lonzo Ball / Tre Jones

SG: Ayo Dosunmu / Kevin Huerter

SF: R.J. Barrett / Dalen Terry

PF: Matas Buzelis / Julian Phillips

C: Jonathan Kuminga / Jalen Smith / Zach Collins

2025 first-round draft pick / 2025 second-round draft pick

How Will This Impact the 2025 Fantasy Hoops Landscape?

Here’s what things might look like in fantasyland for the key players involved:

R.J. Barrett: Same role as in Toronto: Score, score, score. Trending sideways.

Jonathan Kuminga: More minutes, more responsibility, more attractive. Trending up.

Nikola Vucevic: Hasn’t played on this deep of a team ever, so his double-doubles could shrink. Trending down.

Coby White: Will own the backcourt, but that won’t ramp up his already solid numbers. Trending sideways.

Patrick Williams: Welp, he certainly can’t get worse. Trending up.

The Others

The moves will have somewhat of a trickle-down fantasy effect on the rebooted rosters:

In Chicago, Josh Giddey’s will have his hands on the ball, which could significantly increase his fantasy value, while the revamped front court will hurt Matas Buzelis’ stat lines.

For Golden State, Green will likely be the biggest beneficiary of Kuminga’s ouster, as he’ll be the lone legit power forward on the roster.

Without Barrett around to pour in the buckets, Toronto’s Scottie Barnes—already a stud—will be worthy of first-round consideration.

Now, to quote Soul II Soul, back to reality.

Chicago Hope

Granted, these moves leave the Bulls with a terrible bench, but so what? Huerter’s $17 million and Collins’ $18 million come off the books after 2025-26, and if Ball—who has a club option for 2026-27—isn’t healthy enough to contribute, he can be let go, so right there, Voldemort (or his replacement, fingers crossed) will have $45 million to retool Chicago’s second unit.

Plus the Indiana Pacers, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the New York Knicks still exist, so it’s not like the Bulls will be able to make any serious noise in the East next season…or the season after that…or the season after that.

But come 2028-29—when the Giddey / Dosunmu / Barrett / Buzelis / Kuminga core will average out to a mere 26.2 years of age (!)—the Chicago Bulls might be able to hop on off of that dreaded treadmill.

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