The Chicago Bulls are in the final sprint to the NBA trade deadline, which is at 2 p.m. Thursday.
Midseason moves haven’t been the norm for the Bulls, who went three consecutive years (2022-24) without making a single deadline trade under executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas.
But after making a blockbuster trade to send away Zach LaVine last February, the Bulls are expected to be deadline sellers once again this year due to their high volume of expiring contracts.
Here’s the latest news, rumors and analysis on the Bulls ahead of the trade deadline.
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Betting lines favor Bulls for a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade
Could Giannis Antetokounmpo come to Chicago?
This question has tantalized and taunted Bulls fans for years — and this trade deadline is no different. The two-time MVP is dominating the discourse ahead of Thursday’s deadline as the potential centerpiece trade that could set the table for the rest of the league’s dealings. And over the weekend, Las Vegas decided the Bulls were the likeliest trade destination.
In a post on X, DraftKings showed that the Bulls’ odds of landing Antetokounmpo had moved from +4000 to +300 over the course of Sunday alone. Kalshi similarly showed an astronomic leap in the Bulls’ odds to trade for Antetokounmpo, nearing +500 late Sunday.
This isn’t a reflection of the actual trade market — but it is a cautionary tale of how arbitrary information and rumors can influence the sports betting market.
All of this started with a real estate acquisition. Antetokounmpo stayed home from a three-game Milwaukee Bucks road trip while rehabbing a calf injury that could sideline him for the rest of the month. During that reprieve, his family’s investment firm closed a $21 million deal on a 56-unit new-build apartment complex in Chicago.
The Uptown building is only the latest addition to his portfolio as Antetokounmpo’s family invests heavily in real estate — for instance, buying a pair of apartment buildings in Brooklyn last November. But three days later, a fan posted a clip to social media of Antetokounmpo attending service at a Greek Orthodox church in Chicago.
That combination — a commercial real estate investment and a church visit — was enough to reignite long-dormant hopes that Antetokounmpo might see himself in Chicago.
When NBA insiders talk about Milwaukee’s current negotiations, the Bulls aren’t mentioned. According to reports by ESPN and The Athletic, negotiations for a potential deal are focused on four main suitors: the Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks.
The Bulls aren’t likely to bulldoze their way into this conversation. Since the original 2021 roster rebuild, the front office under Karnišovas has developed an ethos of “not skipping steps”, a general guideline of building a team’s foundation before chasing a star. That doesn’t mean the Bulls would turn down a legitimate offer for Antetokounmpo, but it does inform how they would approach any conversations with the Bucks.
More importantly, the Bulls lack the trade resources to sit at the table for this conversation. While they certainly could deal away four of their future first-round draft picks — the maximum allowed by the league — and a few pick swaps, they would need to part with a valuable young player asset such as Josh Giddey or Matas Buzelis to complete the deal.
That would leave Antetokounmpo in roughly the same position he currently bemoans in Milwaukee, anchoring an understaffed roster with zero draft capital to build around him. With only two years left on his contract, there’s no reason for the Bulls to believe they could deliver a strong enough product in that short timeline to prevent Antetokounmpo from walking in free agency.
Ultimately, Antetokounmpo wants to leave Milwaukee to win — something the Bulls simply can’t provide.
Bulls receive Dario Šarić and a pair of 2nd-round picks in 3-team deal
When it happened: Saturday.
Who got what: The Bulls received two second-round picks and forward Dario Šarić while acting as facilitators in a three-team trade with the Sacramento Kings and Cleveland Cavaliers.
The main core of the trade involved the Cavaliers sending De’Andre Hunter to the Kings in exchange for Dennis Schröder and Keon Ellis. The Bulls also sent forward Emanuel Miller to the Cavaliers.
Notes on the new guy: Šarić, 31, appeared in only five games for the Kings this season. The No. 12 pick in the 2014 draft, Šarić was an exciting prospect when he finally entered the league with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2016. He was the runner-up for Rookie of the Year, averaging 13.5 points and 6.5 rebounds. The 76ers traded him to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2018.
Šarić struggled to live up to the early expectations, especially after suffering an ACL injury in 2021. He played a total of 21 games over the last two seasons with the Kings and Denver Nuggets.
At 6-foot-10, Šarić could help the Bulls redistribute their size toward bigger lineups, which have become a preference of the front office this season. His limitations as a defender won’t help with rim protection, but he could add size and shooting if needed as a rotational big.
How it works: Due to Miller’s status as a two-way player, the Bulls waived guard Jevon Carter to create room for Šarić on the roster. However, his acquisition won’t affect the team’s spending due to a trade exception acquired in the Zach LaVine trade.
The Bulls can absorb the entirety of Šarić’s remaining $5.3 million contract using this deal. He is in the final year of his contract, which means the Bulls don’t hold any further financial responsibility for him in the 2026 free-agency window. And they will have plenty of cap space for additional trades in the coming week, a healthy prognosis for a team that would benefit from using financial flexibility to scoop up draft picks.
What’s being said: Although he averaged only 12 minutes per game over three seasons in Chicago, Carter was a cornerstone as a rare veteran in the young Bulls locker room. A Maywood native who played at Proviso East, Carter took pride in suiting up for his hometown team.
Carter was waived just minutes after he scored 11 points in Saturday’s win over the Miami Heat. Players and coaches praised the guard’s work ethic and willingness to embrace his role as a deep rotational player.
“It was always a breath of fresh air — it didn’t matter whether we won a good game or lost a bad game, coming in the next day, JC’s going to be in there working,” forward Patrick Williams said. “That’s a constant that every good team has to have, whether it comes from the star player or the last guy on the bench.”
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