{"id":594593,"date":"2026-02-10T13:20:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T13:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/594593\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T13:20:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T13:20:31","slug":"former-bulls-debut-for-new-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/594593\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Bulls debut for new teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

It looked like laundry day across the league following the NBA trade deadline, including for seven new members<\/a> of the Chicago Bulls. And Illinois senior guard Kylan Boswell is progressing in his injury recovery to return to the Illini \u2014 who will have fun this week with Jake Davis wigs.<\/p>\n

Every Tuesday, Tribune writers will provide an update on what happened \u2014 and what\u2019s ahead \u2014 for the Bulls, Sky and local college basketball teams. Want more?\u00a0Sign up for our\u00a0Tribune sports newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Former Bulls make debuts in Minnesota, Boston, Detroit
\n\"MinnesotaMinnesota Timberwolves guard Ayo Dosunmu goes up to shoot against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo\/Bailey Hillesheim)<\/p>\n

The week after the trade deadline is full of fresh faces and readjustment<\/a> as players get settled in with their new teams around the league.<\/p>\n

Ayo Dosunmu looked right at home in Minneapolis, where he was welcomed to the court with a standing ovation in his debut for the Timberwolves. Although the Timberwolves floundered in a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, Dosunmu provided a rare bright spot with 11 points and two steals off the bench. Julian Phillips also logged his first appearance with the Timberwolves in the same game, scoring a basket in four minutes on the court.<\/p>\n

Nikola Vu\u010devi\u0107 also made a strong impression in a loss off the bench in his debut with the Boston Celtics, logging 11 points and six rebounds in only 23 minutes despite going 1-for-6 from 3-point range. Kevin Huerter was the only former Bull to get a win with his new team over the weekend, helping the Detroit Pistons beat the New York Knicks with eight points in eight minutes off the bench.<\/p>\n

Several traded players still have yet to make their debuts with their new teams. The Charlotte Hornets shut Coby White down through the All-Star break due to lingering calf injuries<\/a> that have impacted his play all season. After being swapped with the Knicks for Guerschon Yabusele, forward Dalen Terry was traded from New York to the New Orleans Pelicans and subsequently waived.<\/p>\n

WNBA submits new CBA counterproposal<\/p>\n

After months of waiting and a crucial meeting in New York City, the WNBA finally submitted a counterproposal for the collective bargaining agreement on Friday to the players\u2019 union.<\/p>\n

According to a report by ESPN, this latest proposal made significant concessions on mandated standards for housing and facilities such as requiring teams to provide rookies and players on minimum salaries with one-bedroom apartments. WNBA teams have been required to provide housing to players \u2014 either through a stipend or a physical space \u2014 since the league\u2019s inception.<\/p>\n

Chicago Sky owner Michael Alter sued by minority partner for allegedly \u2018self-dealing\u2019 to devalue other shares<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

However, this new proposal to the league essentially did not budge on revenue sharing. Players are pushing to receive 30% of gross revenue. The league has countered with an offer that is less than 15%, although it raised the potential salary cap to $5.65 million (from $1.5 million) with future growth expected.<\/p>\n

The WNBPA has not released an official reaction to this counteroffer. With the anticipated dates of preseason barely two months away, the players\u2019 union faces a turning point in the coming weeks \u2014 either concede or strike.<\/p>\n

Kylan Boswell progressing
\n\"IllinoisIllinois guard Kylan Boswell drives against defensive pressure from Minnesota’s Bobby Durkin on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo\/Craig Pessman)<\/p>\n

Illinois senior guard Kylan Boswell was set to return to practice on Monday as he continues his recovery from a fractured right hand<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Boswell has been out since Jan. 20 with the injury, but he has been ramping up activity, including shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s progressing pretty nicely right now,\u201d Illinois coach Brad Underwood told reporters Monday.<\/p>\n

Underwood said he did not expect Boswell to be in uniform for Tuesday\u2019s game against Wisconsin. Boswell will have a doctor\u2019s appointment later in the week to evaluate how his hand responds to the activity.<\/p>\n

Jake Davis appreciation
\n\"Illinois'Illinois’ Jake Davis during a game against Washington on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo\/Craig Pessman)<\/p>\n

When Illinois returns to State Farm Center on Tuesday, the student section will sport an interesting new look. The Illini are giving the first 800 students through the door Jake Davis wigs in honor of the junior forward\u2019s long, curly hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cJake\u2019s pretty proud of that hair, and it works for him,\u201d Underwood said.<\/p>\n

The giveaway comes after Davis made two free throws with one second to play Saturday at No. 10 Michigan State to send the game to overtime. It was a moment Underwood called \u201cjust huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis has made 35 of 88 3-pointers this season but just 10 of 13 free throws.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all talking as coaches, like how many of us have ever been in that moment?\u201d Underwood said. \u201cThat\u2019s not the easiest environment to shoot in, and he just stepped up there like it was nothing, and he said he was nervous. He should have been. He just stepped up there and did what great shooters do and what great leaders do, and that\u2019s show his mettle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Spartans went on to win 85-82 in overtime<\/a> to hand the Illini their first loss since Dec. 13 and break their 12-game winning streak. So Illinois will be in unfamiliar bounce-back territory, as will freshman guard Keaton Wagler<\/a>, who finished the night 2-for-16 from the floor, but 10-for-12 from the free-throw line.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t shoot very well against Maryland and came out pretty good the next night,\u201d Underwood said of Wagler\u2019s 46-point performance at Purdue. \u201cKeaton\u2019s Keaton. He\u2019s unfazed by all that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Number of the week: 6-foot-7.5
\n\"ChicagoChicago Bulls center Nick Richards (13) pulls down a rebound in the first half of a game against the Denver Nuggets at the United Center in Chicago on Feb. 7, 2026. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The Bulls became one of the shortest teams in the NBA at the deadline, with a median height of 6-foot-7.5. The team\u2019s mean average height is 6-foot-4 due to the notable shortness of main rotation guards Tre Jones (6-foot-1) and Rob Dillingham (6-foot-2) and two-way guards Yuki Kawamura (5-foot-7) and Mac McClung (6-foot-2).<\/p>\n

Center Nick Richards \u2014 who was acquired in the final of seven trades during deadline week in a swap for Ousmane Dieng \u2014 is the tallest player on the roster at 6-foot-11. He is also the only available true five as the Bulls prefer to play Jalen Smith (who has been in and out of the rotation with a calf injury) at the four. Backup center Zach Collins is sidelined until after the All-Star break and could miss a significant chunk of the season after that hiatus.<\/p>\n

Week ahead: Bulls
\n\"ChicagoChicago Bulls’ Matas Buzelis dunks during the first half of a game Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo\/Morry Gash)<\/p>\n

Wed: @ Celtics, 7:30 p.m., CHSN<\/p>\n

The NBA will celebrate All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles from Thursday to Sunday. The Bulls do not have an All-Star on the roster, but Matas Buzelis<\/a> and Mac McClung will both participate in the Rising Stars challenge. Both players declined to return to the dunk contest this year.<\/p>\n

Week ahead: Best college games<\/p>\n

Tuesday: Wisconsin men at No. 8 Illinois, 7 p.m., Peacock
\nWednesday: No. 2 Michigan men at Northwestern, 7:30 p.m., BTN
\nSaturday: Northwestern men at No. 7 Nebraska, noon, BTN
\nSunday: Indiana men at No. 8 Illinois, noon, CBS<\/p>\n

The Illinois men get a respite at home after a tough stretch of three top-10 road games in three weeks, though Wisconsin and Indiana, 16-win teams, aren\u2019t exactly pushovers. The Badgers handed Michigan its only Big Ten loss on Jan. 10 in Ann Arbor, Mich.<\/p>\n

Northwestern, on a three-game losing streak<\/a>, has one of its toughest weeks of the year on tap with Michigan at home and Nebraska on the road.<\/p>\n

What we\u2019re reading this morning<\/p>\n

Quote of the week<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year is different. They\u2019re a vastly superior team to us. I\u2019m not going into all the reasons why. They have better players. They\u2019re better coached. They\u2019re a better team than us this year. I thought we battled really hard in our first game. It was a two-possession game with about four minutes to go. \u2026 Our last three years\u2019 teams, we had pretty good teams. Right now, we\u2019re struggling. We\u2019re playing a lot of young kids that aren\u2019t really ready for this level right now. Sometimes you\u2019ve got to take some lumps and go through it to figure things out.\u201d \u2014 Northwestern men\u2019s coach Chris Collins on an 84-44 loss to Illinois<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It looked like laundry day across the league following the NBA trade deadline, including for seven new members…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3771],"tags":[7,920,919,329,3824,16526,79635,79634,79633,6,2828,772,8497,32933],"class_list":["post-594593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-bulls","tag-basketball","tag-bulls","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-chicagobulls","tag-illinois-basketball","tag-illinois-wisconsin","tag-jake-davis-wigs","tag-kylan-boswell-injury","tag-nba","tag-nba-trade-deadline","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-northwestern-basketball","tag-wnba-cba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116046544901396676","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}