Arturas Karnisovas Exit Buzz Growing — Why It Could Be A Franchise-Altering Moment
The Chicago Bulls should be surrounded by optimism. For the first time in years, it feels like they’ve picked a direction. They unloaded all their hefty contracts and will have the most salary cap space in the NBA heading into the upcoming offseason. On top of that, they’re virtually guaranteed a top 10 pick in the upcoming draft with a 20% chance at a top four selection. That doesn’t even include the other 1st rounder they got from Portland. This feels like a team with a genuine chance to turn its fortunes around in the next few months. The problem is that nobody has faith in Arturas Karnisovas, the team’s VP of Basketball Operations, to handle the job.
This man has consistently proven incapable of elevating the Bulls to contender status. Patrick Williams, his biggest draft pick, is a bust. He routinely failed to get adequate value in trades, often because he held onto players for too long. That is, before you recall, he failed to get Lauri Markkanen off the ground and traded him instead. However, none of those moves was the breaking point for Bulls ownership. No, ironically enough, that may have come in the form of Jaden Ivey.
Ivey has put Arturas Karnisovas in a dangerous spot.
Chicago acquired the veteran guard in a three-team deal that saw them flip Ayo Dosunmu to Minnesota and Kevin Huerter and Dario Šarić to the Pistons. It was hoped Ivey might benefit from a fresh start with a team he’d get actual minutes with. Instead, it quickly became apparent that the 24-year-old was less interested in basketball and more interested in making it known he is a devout Christian. It got more and more awkward as the days went on, with Ivey asking media members if they “fornicated” before marriage. Then came the Instagram comments about the “unrighteousness” of the LGBTQ+ community.
The Bulls waived him for conduct detrimental to the team. If that weren’t bad enough, Dosunmu is thriving in Minnesota, averaging 17 points, five assists, and seven rebounds in his last ten games. The trade is still warm, and it’s already one of the worst in the past decade, never mind Karnisovas’ tenure. This goes a long way in explaining a significant shift between him and Bulls ownership. According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Reinsdorfs are seriously considering sweeping changes once the season ends.
Up to that point, the mentality from the Reinsdorfs was very hands off. In their eyes it was Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley who made the mess, and it was on them to fix it.
Less than three months later the stakes have changed.
Now, ownership is weighing if the mess has gotten too large for them to fix, and according to a source everything is on the table in the next 10 days…
…Do they do an entire purge and move on from Karnisovas and Eversley? That has become a reality in the wake of the embarrassing Jaden Ivey ordeal.
If they make Eversley the scapegoat and just move on from him, that would feel more than a bit cheap and a tough sell to the fan base, especially since the Sun-Times has reported that the front office has been more dictatorship than democracy as far as Karnisovas was concerned.
Trusting the Reindorfs to do the right thing is always a bad bet.
This ownership has never liked shaking things up, even when it was beyond obvious that changes were needed. We saw that in the 2000s and again with the GarPax era. Years upon years of mediocrity don’t really move the meter for Jerry Reinsdorf anymore. It is hilarious to think that, considering he was willing to break up the dynasty team in the 1990s, despite having just won a sixth championship. Age has clearly impacted his level of care for how bad things are. It is fair to ask this question.
Would Arturas Karnisovas be in as much trouble if the Ivey situation hadn’t blown up in his face? It’s depressing to think about the answer to that. Regardless, we know for sure that Billy Donovan will likely depart as head coach. Most expect him to return to the college ranks, perhaps to the recently vacated North Carolina job. The only uncertainty is whether Karnisovas joins him on the way out the door. It will be a day of celebration for Bulls fans if that happens.