Bulls' Karnisovas: 'Everything is on the table' ahead of offseason
Chicago Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas is ready to make changes after the team once again failed to make the playoffs.
"This group, something doesn't work. I have to find ways to find a group that's going to make improvements," Karnisovas told reporters, according to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.
"Everything is on the table," he added.
Chicago went 39-43 and lost to the Miami Heat in the play-in game for a second straight season, missing out on the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Jimmy Butler, Miami's six-time All-Star, was unavailable for the do-or-die contest.
"I am going to look at totality of the group. This group hasn't worked. There's a lot of great things in certain individual players and a lot of young guys who took a step forward, and it's positive. But in totality, as a group, it didn't work. So I'm going to have to find these answers in offseason," Karnisovas said.
Bulls head coach Billy Donovan lost multiple key players due to injury in the final stretch of the campaign. In February, the team lost two-time All-Star Zach LaVine and versatile defender Patrick Williams to foot surgeries.
Meanwhile, Lonzo Ball missed the entire 2023-24 season while recovering from knee surgery. The point guard has only played 35 games for the organization since arriving in 2021.
The Bulls organization will have to make some big decisions this summer, as Williams and DeMar DeRozan, the team's leading scorer, are set to become free agents.
DeRozan is rumored to want a two-year deal worth as much as $40 million per season, sources told Johnson.
It was also reported that Chicago was increasingly open to trading LaVine before his season-ending foot surgery. The 29-year-old has two years and a player option remaining on his contract.
Chicago hasn't won 50 games in a campaign since the 2014-15 season.
"I'm thinking about winning," Karnisovas said, according to Andrew Seligman of the Associated Press. "That's why I'm here. I'm not here to stay in the middle."