TORONTO — Artūras Karnišovas is finally ready for the Chicago Bulls to take risks again. The executive vice president of basketball operations made seven trades in six days this week, sending away eight players including longtime franchise staples Coby White, Nikola Vučević and Ayo Dosunmu. In exchange, the Bulls amassed a heap of second-round picks and a rag-tag group of mostly young players who might or might not return to the roster next season. The result is a haphazard vision for a future that the Bulls still haven’t fully fleshed out. “The play-in is not our goal. A championship is,” Karnišovas said in a video news conference shortly after Thursday’s 2 p.m. CT deadline. “We know where we are in the standings and we are not satisfied with being in the middle as an organization or for our fans.” Column: Artūras Karnišovas finally gave the Chicago Bulls a complete makeover. But does he have a plan? Not much has changed in Karnišovas’ messaging from the start of the season to this week. He still shies from using the word “rebuild” to describe this latest project. And he still hammers the importance of “not skipping steps” for a long-term development plan. But after months of relative reticence to take big swings or commit to a tank job, the Bulls made a sharp heel turn this week by offloading all but one of their expiring contracts. Despite the severity of this sudden change — and reports stating the opposite throughout the season — Karnišovas said this week’s actions followed a plan set at the beginning of the season. “We started the year with very mild expectations,” Karnišovas said. “We were talking about the growth of players. We were talking about getting better. We were talking about developing players. So it’s not surprising to us. I don’t know if I communicated it well. But it was a very unique situation — we were talking about seven or potentially eight players being free agents. In order for us to get out of the middle, those were the moves to be made.” The Bulls acquired nine second-round picks this week, bringing their total of second-rounders to 14 over the next seven years — tied with the Detroit Pistons for third-most in the league. This was a notable strategic shift for the Bulls front office, which previously scoffed at those picks, saying they had become devalued in recent years as the number of players declaring for the draft declined. Karnišovas shrugged off this sudden change in outlook, citing their potential use in trades. “Second-rounders are a currency in our industry, and you cannot operate and acquire players and trade players (without them),” Karnišovas said. “We addressed it during the trade deadline and hopefully they’re going to contribute during the draft, during free agency and trying to build this team.” Timberwolves guard Rob Dillingham looks on during the first half against the Nets on Dec. 27, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)Pistons' Jaden Ivey shoots over the Nuggets' Jamal Murray in the first half at Ball Arena on Jan. 27, 2026, in Denver. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images)Timberwolves forward Leonard Miller looks on before a game against the Nets on Dec. 27, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)Suns center Nick Richards dunks beside Bulls guard Coby White in the second half at the United Center on Feb. 22, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)Hornets' Collin Sexton reacts in the second half against the Spurs at Spectrum Center on Jan. 31, 2026, in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)Celtics' Anfernee Simons shoots past the Bulls' Kevin Huerter during the first half at the United Center on Jan. 24, 2026(Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images)Knicks' Guerschon Yabusele during the first half against the Suns onJan. 17, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)Show Caption1 of 7Timberwolves guard Rob Dillingham looks on during the first half against the Nets on Dec. 27, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)Expand In the short term, the roster is a mess. Karnišovas acknowledged as much, admitting there is still “work to do” to put together a balanced roster. The Bulls currently field seven guards in their main rotation. Nick Richards is their only healthy center on a full contract. This roster is shorter than local college teams such as DePaul and Illinois. “I’m definitely worried about so many new players on the team and how little time we have for cohesion,” Karnišovas said. “But I trust Billy (Donovan) and his staff.” In many ways, this is the point of this short-term roster build. The Bulls are tailor made to nosedive out of play-in tournament contention, posturing them for a much better position in the 2026 draft lottery. Six of the new players are on expiring deals, which means the Bulls can part ways with them peacefully after a 30-game sprint down the Eastern Conference standings. Chicago Bulls made 7 deals and parted with 8 players: Recapping their NBA trade deadline moves But this is yet another example of Karnišovas committing to a challenging concept too late. If the Bulls had committed to a stripped-down roster at any prior point — last December, last July, last February — they could have made a legitimate push for top-four draft positioning. Instead, they won 10 games too many to truly compete with the bottom-feeders of the league, leaving them to tank for marginal improvements in their lottery odds. Hesitancy also devalued the trades for players such as White, who did not fetch a single first-round pick despite being previously valued as one of the better young guard assets in the league. Related Articles Column: Artūras Karnišovas finally gave the Chicago Bulls a complete makeover. But does he have a plan? Chicago Bulls made 7 deals and parted with 8 players: Recapping their NBA trade deadline moves Scottie Pippen auctioning $6 million of personal memorabilia Chicago Bulls trade hometown kid Ayo Dosunmu to Minnesota Timberwolves With Coby White’s trade, the Chicago Bulls cut ties to the past — and give up the heart of their locker room Karnišovas ultimately said the timing was right to trade White and Dosunmu because “you don’t want to lose your free agents for nothing.” The executive was quick to ascribe their final trade returns as a reflection of the market. But it’s clear that White’s value in particular tumbled as he spent most of this season hampered by calf injuries. So does the Bulls front office regret waiting a full year to pull the lever on a roster overhaul? “I do not,” Karnišovas said. “I think we were at that stage as well, we continued evaluating our young guys. Right now it’s a good timing, and we addressed it.” For now, Karnišovas must sit with uncertainty. The ultimate success of this trade deadline process relies on a hopeful future. The Bulls need to crash out hard enough in the final 30 games of the season to earn a decent lottery pick, preferably in the top five. They need to make another flurry of trades over the summer to maximize the value of their salary flexibility. And they need to prove the future is bright enough in Chicago to entice free agents to build with this roster. All three of these objectives rely on the Bulls succeeding in areas at which they’ve failed in the past — particularly the free-agency market, which has been a weak point for decades. But for now, Karnišovas is clinging to that hope for a successful (and lucky) future. “I don’t know what we’re going to look like in a year,” Karnišovas said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen during the draft. I don’t know what is going to happen in free agency. So I think it’s very early to say what we’re going to look like. … I think Chicago is still a desirable market for players to come. We’re just going to take one thing at a time.” ...read more read less