Chicago Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan (11) Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Bulls expected to hit the reset button at some point this season

By Adam Taylor | Last updated Nov 10, 2023 5:33 PM ET

The Chicago Bulls are not a championship-contending team. Without Lonzo Ball in their rotation, Chicago lacks the necessary talent to compete in the Eastern Conference. They have lost six of their first nine games as Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan have been unable to steady the ship.

As such, there is an expectation around the NBA that Chicago will hit the reset button before the Feb. 8 trade deadline. According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, teams around the league have sent their scouts to Bulls games. The aim is to gather data on any players who might become available.

"I got to tell you, in talking to some people around the league, the scouts are jamming themselves into Bulls games because they realize that, at some point, the Bulls may break this team up," Windhorst said on a recent episode of NBA Today. "And they're all gathering intelligence like, 'What's gonna happen with the Bulls?'"

"In talking to some people around the league, the scouts are jamming themselves into Bulls games because they realize that at some point, the Bulls may break this team up. And they're all gathering intelligence like, 'What's gonna happen with the Bulls?'"

- @WindhorstESPN

[h/t… pic.twitter.com/n4e8N9WkwT
— BASKETBALL ON (@BasketballOnX) November 10, 2023

Chicago is in a tough spot. DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic are both aging talents. Outside of LaVine and Patrick Williams, the franchise has very few tradable assets. There's limited scope to improve the team via the trade market. The current talent doesn't have time to wait for a rebuild to change the team's fortunes. It makes sense that Chicago could change course. Their best route to stacking assets is to trade their current star players.

Alex Caruso is another rotation player who could fetch future draft assets in a trade. Continuing down their current path would be negligent. The front office swung for the fences when they constructed the current roster. There are always risks when trying to leapfrog into the upper echelon of the league.

The Bulls will eventually hit the reset button. A rebuild is coming. Whether or not the front office is willing to accept that fact is another question. Still, the writing is on the wall. And when it happens, the trades that occur could change the landscape of the NBA.

Adam Taylor

Adam Taylor is a sports journalist based out of the UK. Adam has been covering the NBA for nearly a decade with a core focus on the Boston Celtics. He currently holds bylines with Yardbarker, SB Nation and USA Today

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