Bulls guard Coby White has "seen some things," but will he see a trade?
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – For a few seconds on Friday, Coby White didn’t sound like a 25-year-old NBA player.
Maybe an old soldier who was going out on one last mission or a gladiator walking out of the coliseum one final time. Either way, it was definitely a line right out of a Hollywood script.
“I’ve seen some things,” White said, before he paused. “I’ve been around for a bit.”
Then even he started to laugh, almost catching himself and realizing how he sounded.
Again, he’s just 25.
Strange days for White and the Bulls, however, so maybe he has a right to actually feel that way. He had just helped his team end a seven-game losing streak with a 129-126 win over the Hornets, and he had spent the previous 24 hours once again front and center in the trade rumor mill.
The Sun-Times reported on Thursday that White was receiving interest from the Timberwolves, who have been exploring the market for weeks, trying to improve the backcourt with a primary ball-handler. Not the first rumor White has been in this season, and it certainly won’t be the last.
He admittedly knew that when he turned down an extension offer from the Bulls last season, opting to bet on himself and test unrestricted free agency this summer. White knew it was a decision that would bring some rough weather, and the drizzle has started.
“I’ve been a trade rumor since my rookie year,” White said. “After my rookie year, going into my second year, that’s when the trade rumors started for me. At the time I didn’t understand it because I had just had a great rookie year, and then it was like, ‘Ah, he’s got to be moved while the value is high,’ so I’m used to it.”
He’s also used to answering questions about his future.
If it’s up to White that future would be to stay with the Bulls. That has never wavered.
“Like I’ve always said, I love being on this team,” he said. “I can’t control that. Going into unrestricted free agency, it’s a business at the end of the day and the organization has to do what they have to do. I probably could have seen this coming just because of the year I’m in, the situation I’m in, and the Bulls have one of the biggest media outlets, followings, whatever, but for me I’ve been in the league a little time now so I’m pretty much used to it. I’m just taking it as unless I hear from my agent or I hear it from the front office it’s all fluff for me.”
What isn’t fluff for White, however, is how the story of the 2025-26 Bulls ends. White is one of eight possible expiring contracts the team has on the books, joining Nikola Vucevic, Ayo Dosunmu, Zach Collins, Kevin Huerter and Jevon Carter, as well as the rookie deals of Dalen Terry and Julian Phillips that have pending decisions.
“There are a lot of us going into free agency and I want everybody to be taken care of,” White said. “In order to do that we’ve got to take care of each other. We’ve got to be there for each other. So for us, for me, I know I don’t ever want to see any of these guys go. But like I said, at the end of the day it’s a business. I want everyone to be taken care of and everyone taken care of here (with the Bulls), so for us to make that easier we’ve got to start winning games.”
It's that simple: The Bulls win games and make a run, the more the front office might want to keep the core intact.
A solid take by the guard.
Not a surprise. After all, White’s “seen some things.”