Bulls forward Patrick Williams opens up about whether he's even having fun anymore

OKLAHOMA CITY — Bulls forward Patrick Williams didn’t run from the question.

At this point, there’s really nowhere left for him to run.

He lost his starting job to rookie Matas Buzelis earlier in the season and lately has been losing out to Dalen Terry in terms of closing games.

The bigger concern from the outside looking in, however, is that Williams has appeared passionless he struggles.

This isn’t what the Bulls expected in his fifth season after selecting him No. 4 overall in the 2020 draft, and it’s definitely not what they anticipated when they signed him to a five-year, $90 million extension last summer.

So that’s why it had to be asked: Are you even having fun playing?

‘‘When we’re winning, I’m having fun, regardless of how I’m playing,’’ Williams told the Sun-Times on Monday. ‘‘I come from a culture, obviously, at [Florida State] where winning was the top priority. When you win, everybody gets taken care of. You hold the trophy up, everybody gets to hold it up.

‘‘But, for sure, as one of the young staples of this group, there’s a lot that comes with that off the court, being professional that way, but also on the court, holding yourself to that standard. The team holds me to that standard; I hold myself to that standard. And when I’m not playing at that standard, you shouldn’t be happy.

‘‘That’s kind of what got me to this point, holding myself to that high bar, you can say. And it’s not necessarily making or missing shots but how I’m playing, the energy I’m playing with. When that doesn’t happen, then something has to change. . . . But the only thing that can change it is a change in me.’’

But how does he make that change?

After the Bulls’ one-point loss Saturday to the Mavericks — a game in which Williams played 18 scoreless minutes, grabbed only two rebounds and was a minus-19 — even Bulls coach Billy Donovan thought it was time for a heart-to-heart.

‘‘We spent some time talking [Sunday] because I felt the game against Dallas, he just seemed out of sorts to me,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘He even said, ‘I’ve just got to be better. I just do.’ I give him credit, he came in the next morning. He was working, trying to get better. He wants to be a very good player, wants to perform.’’

Donovan was asked whether Williams even knows how to be a better player.

‘‘I think he does,’’ he responded. ‘‘The biggest challenge for him, in my opinion, is going to be his decision-making. I think he would be the first to say that the way he played is not who he wants to be. He’s just trying to go back to work.

‘‘I don’t necessarily have a great answer on where he is mentally or what’s going through his head in the course of a game. I do think that one of the things that he’s struggled and battles with is where he’s the harshest critic on himself on the court. He’s done a good job of late. I think his rookie year it was a major problem.’’

The frustrating part for Williams is that when he does finally start to feel as though he’s in a rhythm and playing aggressively, like he was doing in November, an injury derails him. That has happened the last two seasons. At the same time, this is the NBA. Setbacks and injuries happen, and he has to get over it.

‘‘Find a rhythm, find something, and then get hurt. Find a rhythm, find something, and then get hurt,’’ Williams said. ‘‘So, for me, staying on the court is the most important thing. . . . Trying to get back to that.’’

He needs to get back to something because the Bulls’ patience with him has run out on many fronts. He can’t run from that.