Look who’s doing all they can to become the hunter.
The Sun-Times reported earlier this week that the Bulls were in serious trade discussions for both Lonzo Ball and Coby White. A source confirmed Saturday that Ball would be the first to go, traded to the Cavaliers for defensive-minded forward Isaac Okoro.
General manager Marc Eversley hinted Wednesday that the Bulls’ mindset for assembling their roster would change.
Discussing the Pacers and their run to the NBA Finals, Eversley said, “What I take away from Indiana is their style of play. They continue to come at you over and over. They play fast in spite of the score or what quarter it is. That’s kind of how we played this year. They’ve got a bunch of players that can play on both sides of the floor, and that’s exactly what we want to build here in Chicago, players who are versatile. You can’t [defensively] hunt any of their players. Everybody can defend, run and make a shot.”
It was then pointed out to Eversley that the Bulls have players who can be hunted on defense, starting with his backcourt of Ball and Josh Giddey.
Giddey is expected to sign a $30 million-a-year contract extension in the next few weeks, and if White stays, that means more attention will be needed on defending the wings. That’s where Okoro comes in.
Ball is a great defensive guard, but he isn’t a starter and seldom has been healthy. It’s well known that he missed more than 2 1/2 seasons recovering from a career-threatening left knee injury, then played in only 35 games last season because of a wrist injury.
Okoro, whom the Cavaliers selected one pick after the Bulls took Patrick Williams fourth overall in the 2020 draft, has underwhelmed but does bring a defensive mindset to the team, as well as availability.
“I think for us, we need to remain diligent and pragmatic about how we build this,” Eversley said. “We don’t want to skip steps. Sometimes when you do skip steps, expectations build, and you make mistakes. I don’t think we want to do that.
“We’ve established a style of play offensively. I think the next iteration of this is identifying who we are defensively and how we can improve.”
Though the Bulls again didn’t receive any draft picks in the deal, they aren’t taking on a bad contract to warrant that.
Ball will make $10 million next season, and he has a $10 million team option for 2026-27. Okoro will make $11 million next season and is guaranteed $11.8 million in 2026-27. It doesn’t allow the Bulls to have clean books for the 2026 offseason, but the commitment isn’t prohibitive.
It does allow the Bulls to continue packaging Patrick Williams, which has been a priority this offseason.
Williams’ awful contract makes it an almost impossible mission, but this is expected to be a trading market, so anything is possible.
As for Okoro, he has started 238 of the 334 games he has played in and has shown an ability to be a three-point threat, improving from 29% as a rookie to 39.1% in 2023-24. That perfectly fits coach Billy Donovan’s style.
Okoro’s presence in the next two seasons also takes a bit of pressure off the project that is first-round pick Noa Essengue. The 18-year-old will need time to grow into an NBA wing, and Okoro working as a starter opposite Matas Buzelis or a reserve allows that process to happen.