Chicago Bulls executive explains the problem in retaining one of their guards

Retaining White for the future and the rebuild would benefit the Bulls, as he is a perfect fit for Billy Donovan’s offense. However, the Bulls still have an abundance of guards on their roster and are still looking to unload one more after they traded Lonzo Ball to the Cleveland Guardians in late June.

White enters the last season of a three-year $36 million contract and will become an unrestricted free agent next year. The Bulls will have a hard time extending White, as the latest CBA doesn’t allow for the Bulls to meet White’s dollar amount, which one Bulls executive explained to Spotrac’s Keith Smith is the issue.

Bulls executives’ comments from Spotrac:

“The contract is what it is. We probably can’t extend him, because the rules don’t allow for us to pay him enough,” a Bulls front office executive said. “But we want Coby to be a Bull for a long time. He knows how we feel about him.”

White could bring back a decent player if traded

Trading White now while his stock is high appears to be the Bulls’ best course of action, instead of letting him play out the season, where he could get hurt or show a decrease in production. The Bulls could trade White to a team for a solid big man who could fill the need of being a rim protector.

The Bulls have had little success finding a suitor for their current big man, Nikola Vucevic , who is an offensive first big and is likely on his way off the roster. With no takers on Vucevic and Ayo Dosunmu still working his way back from the injury that cost him last season, trading White is the best chance they have at speeding up the rebuild.