The Chicago Bulls held a press conference today in Brooklyn so naturally, there were a lot of questions around their trade inaction.
General manager Artūras Karnišovas said “there were so many buyers” on the trade market and explained the organization’s inactivity:
“We made calls. We got a lot of calls. It was pretty busy. But at the end of the day, we were also buyers, we wanted to improve our team. But, we couldn’t capitalize on that,” Karnišovas said.
“There were a lot of teams that didn’t want to take a step back, including us. We tried to improve our team but at what cost? That price was not OK with us.
“There were a lot of hypotheticals and a lot of rumors. We were pretty busy but nothing (happened).”
Although they didn’t make any moves before the deadline, the buyout market will likely be bustling, unlike years before, so Karnišovas said they will focus on that to improve their core.
“We’ll look at it,” Karnišovas said. “First I have to look through every trade that actually happened. And then, you know, what kind of roster each team has before we look at the buyout market.
“So, we’ll look at it for sure.”
The team have already declared their interest in Russell Westbrook, who looks to be a potential buyout candidate with Utah.
With a 26-29 record, including a 116-105 loss to a severely undermanned Nets team today, Chicago need to upgrade their roster if they want to reach the postseason.