CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Before their game Friday against the Hornets, the Bulls took a break from the growing tidal wave of trade rumors to weigh in on what is turning into an old-fashioned he said/he said.
In the draft in June, Pelicans head of basketball operations Joe Dumars shook the NBA world by trading the No. 23 overall pick and an unprotected 2026 first-round pick to the Hawks to move up to No. 13 to draft Maryland big man Derik Queen.
Queen has been a hit so far, but Dumars was criticized for not protecting the pick in what promises to be a loaded 2026 draft class.
Dumars then doubled down in explaining his maneuver, insisting he called teams starting at No. 9 and working his way down until the Hawks agreed.
Guess which team was at No. 12?
But a high-ranking Bulls official told the Sun-Times this week that no one from the Pelicans contacted executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas about moving up. The official also said the Bulls were shocked by the move and by Dumars subsequently saying several times since that he had reached out to them.
In fact, if the Pelicans had made such an offer, the Bulls would have done it.
What they ended up doing instead was drafting project Noa Essengue at No. 12. Essengue’s rookie season officially ended when he had shoulder surgery Wednesday. He had played all of six minutes.
Welcome back
The Bulls continued to get whole when guard Tre Jones, forward Jalen Smith and, perhaps most important, defensive leader Isaac Okoro returned against the Hornets.
The Bulls went 1-7 without Okoro (pinched nerve in back). And while head coach Billy Donovan didn’t want to attribute all of the Bulls’ defensive misfortunes to Okoro’s absence, he detailed his importance.
‘‘He can’t guard everybody,’’ Donovan said of Okoro. ‘‘That’s kind of where he’s hung his hat, but we’ve got to be good collectively as a team defensively. I do think the way he plays is inspiring because most of the things he does are things that I would put under the umbrella of dirty work. [It’s] hustle plays, offensive rebounds, loose basketballs, getting in there defensively, defensive rebounding, physicality at the point of screens — all the things that when you have a guy like that out there it becomes contagious. [But] everybody still has to do their job.’’
Minute men
Okoro and Smith (hamstring) were on a tight minutes restrictions, with the Bulls’ medical team advising Donovan to keep each to 20 minutes. Donovan had a little more freedom with Jones (ankle), whose limit was 24 minutes.
‘‘Those guys are physical,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘I’d even say that Tre Jones is physical. Not to say the rest of our guys aren’t, but that’s who [Okoro, Jones and a now-healthy Zach Collins] have been as players throughout their careers. Anytime you lose a good player, a role player, a key player to your team, there’s always going to be some kind of ramifications from that. But certainly I’d rather have them out there than not.’’
Not tripping
Guards Ayo Dosunmu (sprained right thumb) and Kevin Huerter (strained adductor) stayed in Chicago to rehab. There is no definitive timetable for either player.