The Chicago Bulls Trade Deadline Plans Have Completely Flipped

From Arturas Karnisovas’s first interview before the regular season began to the turn of the calendar to 2026, all reports pointed toward the franchise being sellers at the trade deadline. With seven players on expiring contracts and three consecutive campaigns missing the postseason, significant changes were expected. Nikola Vucevic, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, and Tre Jones have been the most heavily named players in trade speculation, and multiple reports confirmed that potential trades were floated. This afternoon, a piece of news was released that not only contradicts these various reports but also doubles down on the notion that Chicago will be doing something completely different from the narrative.

Chicago Turning Into Buyers

The exact report that Bulls fans did not want to see, that Karnisovas has decided that a mediocre 23-23 record, good for ninth place in the Eastern Conference and 1.5 games away from being a top-six seed, is worth seeing through for the remainder of the year. Despite being labeled as potentially the team selling the most assets in the next two weeks, the latest news claims the opposite. Chicago will likely leverage several of its expiring contracts to acquire win-now talent and sacrifice youthful assets to bolster the current product. In layman’s terms, this means the front office will not want to shake up the roster too much, as they see it as a product that can compete for a playoff spot, and will shy away from any trades that significantly risk immediate success.

The Chicago Bulls are reportedly looking to improve their playoff chances this season, per @EricPincus

“Per multiple league and agent sources, Chicago is looking to improve postseason chances this season while adding young, athletic players to complement its core duo of Josh… pic.twitter.com/AQVdUIp7aa

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) January 27, 2026

Shipping Of Dosunmu, White, For Win-Now Assets

If the Bulls desire to win immediately, make a playoff push this year, and make splashes in the trade market, it’ll require top-end capital. Their two most coveted assets are Ayo Dosunmu and Coby White, players they are willing to part with due to their expiring contracts and the excess point guards on the roster. Several teams have shown interest in both young guards; the question remains, what does AK see as a fair return? Could Jonathan Kuminga or Terrance Shannon Jr. be the answer?

Coby White's last 4 games:

vs. BOS: 22 PTS, 7 AST, 5 3PM
vs. MIN: 22 PTS, 4 AST, 3 3PM
vs. LAC: 27 PTS, 6 AST, 6 3PM
vs. BKN: 24 PTS, 3 AST, 7 3PM

Bulls won all four games pic.twitter.com/li3PSWIlsr

— Bulls on CHSN (@CHSN_Bulls) January 26, 2026

Every fan in Chicago expects all the trade deadline hype to end in zero meaningful moves. This is the typical Karnisovas way, and any season he’s been able to use their proximity to the playoff race as justification to not mix up the roster or pursue either contention or a lottery draft selection, he’s done just that.

Will this be another anticlimactic dud of a trade season?