Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas has decided to explore trade opportunities involving Patrick Williams, a source tells Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.
The 23-year-old power forward has experienced a decline in production during his fifth NBA season, averaging 9.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per night through 32 games while shooting career lows from the field (37.7%) and three-point range (36.2%).
Williams has been viewed as a project since Chicago selected him with the fourth pick in the 2020 draft. The source tells Cowley that Williams “hasn’t been easy to work with,” explaining that his attitude has been fine, but he hasn’t been comfortable enough with his role to buy into what the coaches are telling him.
Cowley explains that assistant coaches are typically assigned to certain players, and there have been “frustrations” on both sides with some of Williams’ matchups. Director of player development Peter Patton has taken over those duties this season, Cowley adds, and it seemed as though Williams was responding when he averaged 11.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in November.
However, through nine games in January, Williams’ numbers are down to 6.6 PPG and 2.6 RPG. Head coach Billy Donovan has been reducing his playing time and he was on the court for just 17 minutes in Friday’s home loss to Charlotte, finishing the game with five points, no rebounds and a -17 plus/minus rating.
“I don’t want to use the word concerned, but I think Patrick’s heart is in a really good place as it relates to our team, and I think he really wants to do well,” Donovan told reporters after the game. “I think the one thing he will continue to get better at, and I think I mentioned to you guys that in closeouts, and I think the next iteration, the next part of it, at least offensively, is going to end up being, ‘What are the ones I need to go in and finish, what are the ones I need to spray out? And when I do spray it out, taking care of the ball?’
“The other part of it too, for our team, we need more rebounding from him. I think he’s made the effort to try and go there, but we probably need to get a little more out of him. But I’m not concerned about him. I know this stretch for him has not been good, but he has had moments where he has been pretty good. I think he does work, I think he’s a good player. He’s up in a tough stretch right now. He’s still going through a maturation process offensively.”
The decision to trade Williams comes roughly six months after the Bulls re-signed him to a five-year, $90MM contract. As Cowley notes, Williams was a restricted free agent last summer, so Karnisovas could have let him seek an offer from a rival team and then decide whether it was in his best interest to match it. Instead, he rewarded Williams with a long-term deal that will pay him $18MM each season, including a player option for 2028/29. Given Williams’ recent production, there may not be many teams willing to take on that contract without an incentive attached.
Williams becomes the latest rumored trade candidate ahead of what could be an active deadline in Chicago. The Bulls are reportedly also looking to move Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic and possibly Lonzo Ball.
Anyone taking that contract on without significant pick compensation or swapping an equally terrible deal are idiots. Genuinely was a head scratching contract at the time but didn’t think it would look bad as quickly as it did
AK needs to be held accountable for this.
Exactly! They should’ve let him walk this past offseason. Now they gave him $90 mil for some god awful reason, and now they want to bail out of the situation. Another failure of the AK/Eversley era
Honestly, he is very clearly not a Power Forward and insisting that he plays like that is weird, specially when they make him play like that to fit LaVine and previously Derozan in the lineup. A young team should gamble on him, maybe the Kings they have been needing a wing. Or maybe the cavs.
Mavs are in search for a perimeter defender. Maybe swap for Gafford? Play Gafford at PF or split the C position with Smith after a Vucevic trade…
Mavs are probably looking for a GOOD perimeter defender. Big difference. The mistakes this FO makes are almost enough to make you yearn for Gar-Pax back. Wow can’t believe I said that.
Hilarious that there’s a trade offer of gafford for Williams when this bulls front office gave gafford away for nothing and drafted Williams ahead of Haliburton Maxey Bane Quickley and so on, the Chicago Bulls deserve to be kicked out of the nba
No motor and no BBIQ, two things you don’t like from a 3 and D guy, which is all he is. Maybe another team can squeeze more juice out of the lemon, but I wouldn’t want to be the one to find out on a contract that long and expensive.
Interested teams see a career 40% 3pt shooter in his 5th year as a starter, with a 7” wingspan, and still only 23 years old. He’s the archetypal modern wing defender.
That’s a career 40% on 3’s over a large sample: 247 makes in 741 attempts. That can be said of only 13% of NBA players.
Williams may have failed to grow into an $18M per year player, but there are several teams that will be looking hard at Williams only because of his 3pt shooting.
Whenever Williams comes up on these boards, we tend to get “the problem is that Williams isn’t a true PF”. But, the Bulls haven’t really used him as a PF on offense, but more as a floor-spacer. Starting Williams alongside SF DeRozan and SG Lavine meant that Williams would have to, nominally, be a PF.
Defensively, he’s too small to rebound against true bigs. But every NBA team knows that.
The Bulls could flip him to Phoenix for Josef Nurkic.
I would make that deal so it would make trading Vuj much easier.
I don’t even think Phoenix would make that dumb of a move. Nurkic sucks but he only has 1 more year on his deal.
And now they finally give up. Should’ve done it after year three.
Who’s taking him without sweeteners attached? And a rebuilding team is better off just hoping the 23 year old guy figures it out vs. attaching value to dump the contract. Only thing left to do is keep him and see what a year or two brings.
Donovan is not very good at unlocking players potential,he always played ready to go stars.PW will end up like Markannen,Bulls will give him away for nothing,he’ll be worth 1 or 2 FRP’s under proper coaching next season
How does Billy still have a job
Coach Kirkland
Yooo and Idont- I’ve been saying that all year. So Donovan was supposed to develop Williams. Steeeeerike. So now we’re going to trust him with Giddey and Buzelis? Like Ditka used to say, ” Who ya crappin”?
Donovan does suck, but where can Williams realistically make significant gains? He’s got a bad handle, isn’t a playmaker, has subpar bbiq, and can hit a three but doesn’t shoot them with enough volume or on movement. His only viable path forward is to upgrade his 3 and D credentials, but I have a hard time seeing him get THAT much better just getting away from Donovan.
Shea – I like your takes, and you’re right to consider the role of Donovan, but I think this one misses on some facts about Williams’ play the last few years.
He was a very good on-ball defender the past 2 years and he did not, as you imply by saying he has a low BBIQ, screw up much positionally. He’s started for 4.5 years, beginning as a 19 year old rookie, because Donovan trusts him.
Williams hasn’t shot as much as he could because of the way he’s been coached — don’t make mistakes, only take very high percentage shots, let Lavine and DeRozan take the shots, etc. That behavior has been reinforced with starts and minutes. There are many posters here that aren’t appreciating the way Donovan has coached him to play.
Didn’t make sense to give that contract much like Denver giving Nnaji his. Not sure why teams give the contracts early when they have rfa. Do what Cavs did with Okoro let them test fa they will see no market for them and you get them back less cap tied into them.
Williams can be another OG type player. Bulls don’t even know he’s a 3. It’s why they can’t develop him. He should definitely go somewhere else. If he wants to reach his potential.
Al, all respect, but no, he can’t. My secret suspicion (buoyed by the fact that DeRozan apparently really took him under wing) is that he has a mental health issue, perhaps depression, as he shows flashes of effort and aggression and then has really terrible games where he disappears. He dribbles the ball off his foot every few games. He is in year 5, he ain’t getting any better.
He shows occasional promise, but one really has to wonder what if the Bulls took Halliburton as in many projections that year, instead of the usual Bullz bs of trying to shore how smarter they are than the c rest of the league with ‘projects’.
OG was always a good defender and he played hard. Williams doesn’t do anything well
Al I agree that OG is a good comp.
Williams just turned 23 and he can shoot it. It’s a matter of finding the right home. Which of course may not happen.
i like pdub. i think he can be unlocked in the right system
What’s he good at? I can’t name one thing he does well, except get paid
Shoots 40% from 4. He’s got straps. Don’t let the haters fool you. Let’s talk in 3 years.
Why was he ever drafted at 4?
Because he looked and moved like Kawhi.
Good luck
Just another sign of how terrible the Chicago Bulls are being run by their GM.
You start off by saying “Williams hasn’t been easy to work with” and even before signing his extension i remember the Zach Lowe speculation “I’m hearing Patrick Williams wants big, big numbers for his next contract… like, starts with a 2 and isn’t $20M,”
Being a restricted free agent they should’ve let him test his value on the market and then decide to match it. That could’ve saved them being in this position 6 months later on being like Uh Oh let’s try trade him.
Everyone has noticed there’s been no on court development in 5 years since drafting him. His pre draft comparison was Kawhi Leonard hence being drafted 4th overall and even since being drafted both LeBron James and DeMare DeRozan have made that comparison. Known for his on ball defence and ability to shoot from deep and from the midrange he’s just never really gotten any better. It really reminds me of Lauri Markeneen who never got developed correctly and upon leaving Chicago became an all star and franchise player for Utah.
The crazy part is whatever NBA team that trades for him will get extra compensation because of his contract and then likely moves him into the SF position and develops him correctly into a really good 3 and D player. They’ll give up unwanted bad money, get back a pick and get a really good role player and again make the Bulls look like idiots. He’s still a career 40% career shooter from 3 and only 23. He’s basically the cheaper, more long term plan alternative to Cam Johnson.
Could be a good target for a bunch of teams, Sacramento for Heuter would be a good idea. Pheonix would be good if they got rid of Nurkic.
San Antonio would be a good spot (especially as they developed Kawhi). Toronto and Portland make sense, Utah maybe …
Simmons>Russ – not so fast on Markkanen.
First, he spent his 5th year in CLE as the same player he was in Chicago. Yes, he had 2 career seasons at tanking Utah, but this season he’s back to being the mediocre 36% 3pt, 43% FG, 6 rebounds per game player he was in Chicago, only now he’s getting paid $50M/yr.
Markkanen put up some good numbers for 2 seasons on a terrible team, but he hasn’t proven Chicago wrong just yet.
Just was drafted top 10, didn’t develop, eventually got traded to a spot that gave him a good opportunity and won most improved player as well as become an all star. I’d definitely say he’s proved Chicago wrong.
Besides Coby White I can’t think of the last player Chicago really developed and turned into anything more than an average role player….
They have done a spectacular job taking such a valuable asset (a fourth overall pick) and making it nearly worthless (year 5 Patrick Williams, with 5 years of 18 million guaranteed going forward).
I think this might be the final straw that breaks my fandom. This has to be the stupidest front office in history – he was an RFA, you could have paid market value and hedge your bets so this trade could happen without attaching picks. Does AK have brain damage? And how dies Donovan keep his job, he has failed at developing any of the young talent, has 4.5 years of consistent mediocrity on the court, his players don’t do fundamental things like box out or scramble for loose balls, they play zero defense. Why does anyone think he is a good NBA coach? This is the guy who couldn’t win with KD, Westbrook, CP3, how is he going to win with a bunch of mediocre mid tier players? But ‘fans’ keep buying tickets for the ‘experience’ at the UC.
Bulls can’t even rebuild right, assuming that is what they’re trying to do. Just a sad state of affairs. No one is taking on that contract for at least a few years.
Who wants the modern day Michael Kidd Gilchrist???? I called this on draft night and hated this pick from the get go. He has not gotten better in anything offensively and he is scared to play basketball offensively. Worst draft pick ever in Bulls history.
He’s much worse than MKG. I can’t even come up with a good comparison because he’s so bad.
MKG shot 27% from deep.
PDub shoots 40% from deep.
Next question?
guys i have a question:
when a player is in restricted free agency…and no other team offers a contract…then why do the main team bid against themselves by overpaying players?
Brain damage? CTE?
i will give an example:
damian lillard is about to be traded by portland.
yet they still gave jeremi grant a max extension when they are rebuilding.
i dont understand why pay max when you can gwt grant for half that.
does gm cronin get a little kickback from grant’s agent?
Why this guy got five years of the kind of money that he did blows my mind