The Chicago Bulls started the season 5-0. After a surprise loss to the woeful Brooklyn Nets Wednesday, they’ve dropped to 9-12 and are in serious need of a change.

With several rotation players out, even a 28-point triple-double from Josh Giddey wasn’t enough to lift the Bulls to a home win. Since the start of November, the Bulls are 4-12 with the No. 24 offense and No. 24 defense, a level of mediocrity across the board. It’s looking like the best they can hope for is a fourth straight play-in tournament loss — unless they make a move.

The Chicago Bulls haven’t been willing to rebuild

It’s been consistent mediocrity for the Bulls for three seasons, where their records have been 39-43, 39-43 and 40-42. In those years they finished 10th, ninth and ninth in the Eastern Conference, then missed the playoffs after a play-in loss.

That’s kept the Bulls on the fringe of being a competitive team, but without the high-level talent to become a team that can make the playoffs, much less contend for a title. They have picked at No. 11 and No. 12 in the last two drafts, adding Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue but they’re simply low on elite talent.

But the Bulls have resisted blowing up their team. They traded Alex Caruso for Giddey before last season, a forward-looking move, then dumped Zach LaVine and his contract on the Sacramento Kings. Still, they’re holding on to center Nikola Vucevic and their expiring contracts so far, counting on their ample cap space next summer.

Nikola Vucevic and Coby White should be dangled in trades

Vucevic is averaging 16.6 points and 9.9 rebounds this season. At age 35, he’s not going to part of the next competitive Bulls team, but he could certainly help a team trying to compete now. Coby White has been injured this year, but last season he scored 20.4 PPG and shot 37 percent from three-point range.

They’re both free agents at the end of the season. The Bulls tend to re-sign their own players in these circumstances, like when Vucevic originally became a free agent in 2023, or when the Bulls gave Patrick Williams a regrettable five-year, $90M deal last summer.

But the Bulls have a unique opportunity to flip expiring contracts for players signed to long-term deals. The obvious target is Chicago native Anthony Davis, who is clearly on a different career timeline than rookie Cooper Flagg, and might be available for expiring veterans or for taking more unwanted salaries on the Dallas Mavericks.

It seems clear that this version of the Bulls is going nowhere, and that the team’s future is with Giddey and Buzelis. The organization may not want to tear things down, but it’s long past time to shake things up.