After many years of mediocre records, a weird timeline, and questionable moves, the Chicago Bulls are finally in a pretty interesting spot where basically everything should be about one goal: figuring out who actually belongs next to Matas Buzelis , Caleb Wilson, Josh Giddey , and whatever other young talent they add over the next couple of years.
After finishing just 31-51 last season with the 23rd-ranked offense and 22nd-ranked defense, this really isn't the time to get emotionally attached to solid veterans who probably won't be part of the next great Bulls team anyway. Especially now that Chicago added Nic Claxton , Norman Powell , Wilson, and Dailyn Swain while giving younger guys like Leonard Miller and Rob Dillingham more reasons to fight for minutes.
And really, their revamped front office, with Thiago Splitter as new head coach, has already built the roster with flexibility in mind. Powell's second season is a team option, Tre Jones isn't tied down long-term, and Chicago has only $68.4 million committed for 2028-29 right now. That's a huge change from the previous Bulls era where basically every offseason started with figuring out how to move contracts nobody wanted.
That makes the 2027 trade deadline pretty obvious territory to keep collecting assets for their Play-In push . Some players obviously shouldn't be touched unless Chicago gets a crazy offer they just can't say no to.
I obviously wouldn't move Buzelis, Wilson, Giddey, or probably even Claxton before seeing how that group looks together for the entire season. But there are three names that make way too much sense as trade candidates for completely different reasons, and I'd be pretty surprised if all three are still Bulls after the deadline.
Let's just get the ugly part out of the way first: Patrick Williams still has one of the worst contracts in the entire league, making him one (if not the) most unwanted players in a trade right now.
Chicago gave him a five-year, $90.0 million contract in 2024, and somehow we're entering Year 7 of his NBA career still talking about potential without any great development. Williams will make $18.0 million this season, another $18.0 million in 2027-28, and then has an $18.0 million player option for 2028-29.
So any team trading for him could basically be signing up for three years and $54.0 million if Williams picks up that option, and that'd already be uncomfortable if his production was just mediocre, but it was much worse than that last season.
Williams averaged 7.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 72 games while shooting 37.2% from the field and 34.7% from three. His 47.2% effective field goal percentage was awful for a low-usage forward who isn't creating difficult shots, and he actually finished with -0.1 Win Shares despite playing almost 1,500 minutes.
That's the part I just can't get over. Williams had a 12.3 points-per-36 scoring rate last season. He grabbed only 5.3 rebounds per 36. His PER was 8.2. We aren't talking about somebody quietly producing in fewer minutes and just needing a larger opportunity. Chicago gave him six years to show something, and we're still getting stretches where you legitimately forget he's playing.
And apparently the league agrees, as Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the Bulls had actively tried to move Williams since the previous summer, but teams weren't interested in taking on that contract. Cowley later described the deal as basically unmovable, with Chicago entering this offseason unable to find a taker.
That doesn't mean trading him during the season is impossible, though. By February, another chunk of his salary will already have been paid, teams will know exactly where they stand competitively, and somebody could have an injured forward, a bad contract of their own, or just enough belief in Williams being a 25-year-old former No. 4 pick to take the gamble.
Attaching a first-round pick just to make Williams disappear would completely defeat the purpose of a rebuild. Even attaching multiple second-round picks would make me uncomfortable unless the Bulls are getting back another contract they actually prefer.
The ideal outcome is probably some variation of bad contract for bad contract, maybe with a player whose deal expires earlier. Chicago might have to take somebody older, somebody injured, or somebody who doesn't really fit, but turning three possible Williams years into one or two guaranteed years would already be a win .
There's also another problem for Patrick now: he might not even play that much. The Bulls' projected frontcourt is Buzelis, Wilson, and Claxton, while Leonard Miller outplayed Williams during stretches last season, and Williams might end up outside Splitter's main rotation with Noa Essengue finally ready to play.
So what exactly are the Bulls planning here? If Williams starts the season well and shoots 39-40% from three for a couple of months, Chicago should absolutely start calling teams again trying to sell him higher. You don't need to "win" the trade. At this point, getting out unscaped might be enough.
Jalen Smith is basically the complete opposite situation because I actually like him, and he posted 10.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in only 20.7 minutes last season while shooting 48.3% from the field and a really solid 37.3% from three on 4.2 attempts per game. He finished with a 16.6 PER and averaged 17.8 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per 36 minutes.
He's 6-foot-8, can legitimately stretch the floor, rebounds well for his minutes, can play next to another big man in certain matchups, and doesn't really need the ball. There are a bunch of playoff teams that could use exactly that player for 15-20 minutes, and that's precisely why the Bulls should consider moving him.
Smith is making only $9.4 million this season, and more importantly, the contract expires next summer. That number can absolutely fit into plenty of trade structures and is large enough to be useful as matching salary, all without forcing the team acquiring him to take on future money.
Smith is somebody who could be moved this season after many rumors, and he's an ideal acquisition for a team needing stretch help in my opinion. His skill set becomes more valuable once playoff rotations start shrinking and teams desperately need a frontcourt piece who can help out with the spacing, and that 37.3% from three is the selling point.
Smith made 1.5 threes per game last season despite playing barely 20 minutes, and his 58.4% effective field goal percentage was easily better than what Chicago got from plenty of its higher-usage players. He also grabbed 3.2 offensive rebounds and 8.4 defensive rebounds per 36, so this isn't some Davis Bertans situation where you're calling a tall shooter a center because Basketball-Reference put a C next to his name.
The question for the Bulls is whether retaining him past this season makes sense. Claxton is already making $23.1 million and is clearly the starting center. Zach Collins just signed an extension, while Wilson and Buzelis will eat a lot of frontcourt minutes, and Chicago still needs to figure out what Essengue and Miller actually are.
Paying Smith again next summer could become another case of spending money on a good rotation player whose best years probably happened before the Bulls were actually ready to contend, so I'd rather turn him into draft capital.
I don't think Chicago is getting a first-round pick for Jalen Smith by himself, and asking for one would probably just kill discussions. Two second-round picks? Now we're talking. A second-round pick plus a young flyer? Fine. Maybe you attach him to another veteran and use his value to improve the overall package.
He also has some medical risk after a calf injury ended his season in March, so getting through the first half healthy matters, but if Smith comes back, shoots around 37% from three again, rebounds at the same rate, and stays healthy through January, I think his market could become pretty interesting.
The Bulls also have a 25-year-old wing who can defend guards and wings, already has playoff experience from Cleveland , and sits on an expiring $11.8 million contract. If I'm a contender in January or February and my bench is getting killed defensively, I'm absolutely calling the Bulls about Isaac Okoro .
His numbers were good, but nothing that impressive: 9.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 63 games last season, while shooting 46.0% from the field and 33.0% from three. Obviously, that % from outside isn't helping his value, and actually was his worst three-point percentage since his rookie season (although he shot 39.1% in 2023-24 and 37.1% in 2024-25).
The difference between Okoro shooting 33% and 37% is basically the difference between "interesting defensive specialist" and "guy I might actually trust for 20 playoff minutes." He still has a clearly defined skill, though.
Okoro was usually asked to defend the toughest perimeter scorer last season for the Cavs and Bulls, and with Chicago now projecting Powell and Giddey as starters, he's likely moving into a bench role where his offensive limitations become even less important. I think he's the leading trade candidate because of that expiring contract, and Chicago should lean into that.
Play him for 20 minutes, let him guard stars, hope the three-pointer comes back closer to 36%, and then see which contender convinces itself that Okoro is the missing eighth man for a team that's struggling to find that defensive wing to hide their main stars on the perimeter.
An $11.8 million expiring contract is incredibly workable around the deadline. A team can acquire him without sacrificing flexibility, use him for one playoff run, and either re-sign him for cheap or simply let him go in July.
I mean, after the missed Kuminga chase, Okoro could eventually land with the Lakers for future draft capital. There's no reporting on that, but the framework makes perfect sense for exactly the reasons above: contenders always need another perimeter defender, especially one who doesn't require touches.
Chicago already has Buzelis, Wilson, Swain, Powell, Miller, Essengue, and other bigger bodies fighting for minutes around the perimeter. Okoro is a solid piece, but that alone isn't a reason for a rebuilding team to let an expiring contract walk for nothing.
I'd probably set the price at two second-round picks and see who bites. Maybe it ends up being one good second-round pick and a fringe young player. Maybe Okoro shoots 38% through January, and his market becomes better than expected. Maybe Chicago uses him as matching salary in a larger deal, but doing nothing would probably be the worst outcome.
The Bulls already collected four second-round picks in the Ayo Dosunmu trade last February, so just keep doing that. One second-round pick obviously isn't exciting by itself, but enough of them become trade ammunition, draft swings, or assets you can use to move around later.
The Bulls don't need to blow everything up again when most of the old roster is already gone, and there are finally enough young guys around to build something interesting.
That's why I wouldn't look at this deadline as some huge fire sale where everybody over 25 suddenly needs to get kicked out of town, because that would be pretty pointless. Still, if Okoro and Smith can bring back some sort of picks, either first- or second-rounders depending on their markets, just move them without much thought.
Williams is obviously a completely different situation because nobody is giving them anything valuable for that contract right now, and forcing a trade just to get rid of him would probably mean attaching picks, which would be exactly the wrong way to handle this. I'd rather keep him, hope he somehow puts together a decent two or three-month stretch, and then see whether another team becomes more interested.
That's really all Chicago needs to do here, because this roster doesn't need another dramatic reset when the reset already happened. Just keep giving the important young guys minutes, don't get too attached to veterans who probably won't be here when this team is actually ready to win, and if you can bring back something positive for those three trade candidates, that's already a pretty productive deadline.
