Pistons Notes: Fan Survey, Langdon, Hardaway Jr., Beasley

Pistons fans made it known in an annual survey conducted by James Edwards III of The Athletic that this is somewhat of a make-or-break year for the franchise.

Only 35.8% of the more than 2,000 fans who cast their votes believe the team is headed in the right direction, while 38.7% said they were unsure. The remaining 25.4% believe the Pistons aren’t on the right path. Edwards notes that in previous surveys he’s conducted with the fans, they tended to be more optimistic.

Regarding the question of which player needs to take the biggest leap during the upcoming season, 69% chose either Jalen Duren and Jaden Ivey. Both players had uneven second seasons under previous head coach Monty Williams and will be eligible for rookie scale extensions during the 2025 offseason. It shows that the fans believe this is a pivotal season for both lottery picks, Edwards notes.

As for this summer, the best move wasn’t a player acquisition, according to a majority of fans. Instead, the firing of former GM Troy Weaver received 62.7% of the votes.

We have more on the Pistons:

  • Trajan Langdon‘s personnel moves this summer showed that the new president of basketball operations is taking a long-range approach toward building the franchise, according to Pistons.com’s Keith Langlois. Langdon added a number of veterans on one- and two-year deals to improve the team’s short-term prospects but didn’t take any roll-of-the-dice gambles that might have hindered the long-term vision. Langlois notes that the next two draft classes are deeper with more projected franchise-altering prospects than 2024’s class featured.
  • Tim Hardaway Jr. and Malik Beasley are two of the offseason acquisitions who might be flipped at the trade deadline, depending upon how the first 50 games shake out, according to Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press (subscription required). Hardaway, acquired in a salary dump from Dallas, and Beasley, who signed a one-year contract as a free agent, are proven gunners who could help a contender if their efficiency holds up.
  • Did you miss any of the Pistons’ offseason moves? You can find our Offseason Check-In right here.

Stephen Curry Signs One-Year Extension With Warriors

6:33pm: Curry has signed the extension, the team’s PR department announced (via Twitter).


11:28am: Two-time MVP Stephen Curry has agreed to a one-year, $62.6MM extension with the Warriors, agent Jeff Austin tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Curry was limited to a one-year extension due to the Over-38 rule. He was already under contract for the next two seasons, with salaries of $55.8MM in 2024/25 and $59.6MM in 2025/26. His new extension will cover the 2026/27 campaign, meaning he won’t hit free agency until 2027.

Curry’s salary on the one-year extension won’t be affected by where the ’26/27 cap lands, since he’ll be eligible for a 5% raise on his previous salary, even though that figure will exceed that season’s league-wide maximum.

Widely regarded as the greatest shooter in basketball history, Curry holds career averages of 24.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 1.5 steals on .473/.426/.910 shooting in 956 regular season games (34.2 minutes per contest). The 10-time All-NBA guard, who has won four championships and made six NBA Finals appearances, has spent his entire 15-year career with Golden State.

The Warriors had an up-and-down season in ’23/24. They went 46-36 and were eliminated in the play-in tournament by the Kings. The 36-year-old still performed at a very high level though, averaging 26.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists on .450/.408/.923 shooting in 74 regular season games (32.7 minutes). Curry earned an All-NBA Third Team nod for his efforts.

Curry is coming off a star showing at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, when he was dominant in both the semifinal (vs. Serbia) and final (vs. France) en route to his first gold medal with Team USA. He had struggled for much of the tournament leading up to those games, but obviously stepped up in a major way when he was needed most.

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, Curry will surpass $500MM+ in career on-court earnings with the new extension, joining LeBron James and Kevin Durant as the only players to reach that threshold.

Curry, general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr., and owner Joe Lacob have all expressed a desire for the 6’2″ guard to remain with the Warriors for the rest of his illustrious career. The extension agreement has both sides one step closer to achieving that goal.

Tatum Ready To Move On After ‘Challenging’ Olympic Experience

Jayson Tatum‘s benching became one of the big storylines during Team USA’s run to the gold medal in the Paris Olympics. The Celtics star didn’t see the court in the team’s opening game against Serbia. He did play in four of the other five games and says he’s not bitter over his modest role.

“I wasn’t moping around. I didn’t have an attitude. I wasn’t angry at the world,” Tatum told Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “I stayed ready and did what was asked of me and I won a gold medal, right?”

The first-game benching was big news and Tatum was well aware of it.

“It was a lot. In the age of social media, you see everything,” Tatum said. “You see all the tweets and the people on the podcasts and people on TV giving their opinion on whether they thought it was a good decision or it was an outrageous decision or whatever. Obviously, I wanted to contribute more, and I’ve never been in (this) situation. I started playing basketball at (age) three at the YMCA, and I’ve never not played, so it was different and it was challenging.”

Tatum, who also won a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics, averaged 5.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 steals in 17.7 minutes in his Olympic appearances this summer.

If there was a lingering issue to come out of his individual Olympic performances, it’s that his jump shot went AWOL. He shot  38.1% overall and missed all four of his 3-point tries.

Tatum also struggled from long range throughout the NBA playoffs, as he made only 39-of-138 three-point attempts (28.3%). He was still an offensive force while winning the first championship ring of his career, posting averages of 25.0 points and 6.3 assists in 19 playoff games.

He isn’t concerned that his shooting woes will carry into next season.

“I have two (gold medals) now, I have a championship, and everything doesn’t necessarily go the way you expect it to go, right?” Tatum said. “I’ve learned to be like, ‘OK, that’s a part of it.’ You move on, and I’m getting ready to enjoy the last little weeks I have before the season starts and get ready for another season.”

Tatum was one of several Celtics who received extensions after the season. He was rewarded with a five-year, super-max contract that will begin in 2025/26. He’s not going to rest on his laurels as Boston aims to become the first team since Golden State in 2017-18 to win back-to-back titles.

“I’m of the mindset that after ring night, in a weird way, we got to put that behind (us),” he said. “Last year was last year. We did it. It was a dream come true. We worked our (butt) off for it. But after ring night, we gotta move on. We gotta get ready for game two.”

Sixers Sign Guerschon Yabusele To One-Year Contract

After parting ways with Real Madrid, forward Guerschon Yabusele has officially signed with the Sixers, Philadelphia announced in a press release.

The 76ers did not disclose the terms of Yabusele’s contract, but reporting from a couple weeks ago — when the news first broke that he would be landing with Philadelphia — indicated that the 28-year-old would sign a one-year, minimum-salary deal. Since he has two years of NBA experience, his salary for 2024/25 will be $2,087,519.

The 16th overall pick of the 2016 draft, Yabusele spent a year as a draft-and-stash prospect in China, then played for the Celtics for two seasons from 2017-19. He appeared in 74 games with Boston and had a modest role, averaging 2.3 points and 1.4 rebounds in 7.1 minutes per contest.

While his first NBA stint didn’t go the way he hoped, Yabusele has thrived overseas in recent years, winning a EuroLeague title (2023) and two Spanish League (Liga ACB) titles (2022, 2024) with Real Madrid after claiming a French League (LNB Pro A) championship with ASVEL in 2021. He was also one of the key contributors to the French national team that won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics this summer.

Last season with Real Madrid, Yabusele appeared in 64 Liga ACB and EuroLeague games, averaging 9.7 points and 4.0 rebounds, with a shooting slash line of .531/.445/.813. In six games with France at the 2024 Olympics, he averaged 14.0 points and 3.3 rebounds on .519/.286/.815 shooting, earning second-team honors for the tournament.

The Sixers now have 17 players under contract, four shy of the offseason limit.

Pacers Waive Dakota Mathias

The Pacers have requested waivers on guard Dakota Mathias, the team announced in a press release.

The move was anticipated. Mathias was signed to an Exhibit 10 contract a few days ago, and the Pacers specified that he was expected to play with the Mad Ants, their G League affiliate, during the 2024/25 season.

The Exhibit 10 language Mathias’ contract means he’ll receive a bonus worth up to $77.5K on top of his standard NBAGL salary as long as he spends at least 60 days with the Mad Ants once the season begins.

Mathias played four years of college ball in Indiana at Purdue prior to going undrafted in 2018. He has appeared in 14 regular season games with Philadelphia and Memphis, last playing for the Grizzlies during the 2021/22 campaign. He holds career averages of 3.9 points in 9.9 minutes per contest.

In addition to his time in the NBA and NBAGL, the 29-year-old combo guard has also played professionally in Europe, spending time in Spain and Germany.

The Pacers now have 19 players under contract, two shy of the offseason limit. They have 16 players on standard deals, but only 12 of those contracts are fully guaranteed. All three of their two-way slots are filled.

And-Ones: Anthony, Toupane, 2024 Offseason Moves

Former NBA star Carmelo Anthony would like to become part of a team’s ownership group, he said on his 7PM in Brooklyn podcast (YouTube link). However, he’s not quite sure how to go about becoming a minority stakeholder.

I’m out there trying to raise money now, trying to raise money with my sports fund … it’s hard to raise money,” said Anthony, who earned $250MM+ in NBA contracts over his career. “… It’s hard to raise money. … And getting people to understand what sports is. It’s so much money being spent into sports, and people really don’t understand it. People really don’t understand sports.

(The NBA) is a small piece of sports globally. A small piece in the grand scheme of things. This is one market. … That’s North America, they control basketball, but it’s like, they going global with it.”

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

  • French guard/forward Axel Toupane, who won a championship with Milwaukee in 2021, is signing with the Diablo Rojos for the Mexican LNBP season, a source tells Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Toupane appeared in 33 regular season games with three different teams over the course of his three NBA seasons. The 32-year-old has had a long international career, playing for teams in France, Lithuania, Greece and Spain since 2011. He played for Metropolitans 92 last season in France’s top basketball league (LNB Elite).
  • Dan Favale of Bleacher Report lists the biggest 2024 offseason win and loss for each of the NBA’s 30 teams. For the defending champion Celtics, Favale views Derrick White signing a long-term extension as their biggest win, while their biggest loss was losing top assistant coach Charles Lee, who is now head coach of the Hornets. At the other end last season’s standings, Favale liked the contract the Pistons handed out to Simone Fontecchio (two years, $16MM), but was not a fan of the trade that shipped Quentin Grimes to Dallas for Tim Hardaway Jr. and three second-round picks.
  • In case you missed it, Real Madrid and Guerschon Yabusele have reached an official agreement to end his contract, clearing the way for the French forward to finalize his reported deal with the Sixers.

NBA 2024 Offseason Check-In: New Orleans Pelicans

Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2024 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the New Orleans Pelicans.


Free agent signings

  • Javonte Green: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
  • Daniel Theis: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
  • Matt Ryan: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception.

Trades

  • Acquired the draft rights to Antonio Reeves (No. 47 pick) from the Magic in exchange for the right to swap second-round picks in 2030 and 2031.
  • Acquired the Bulls’ 2027 second-round pick (top-50 protected) from the Wizards in exchange for Jonas Valanciunas (sign-and-trade).
  • Acquired Dejounte Murray from the Hawks in exchange for Larry Nance Jr., Dyson Daniels, E.J. Liddell, Cody Zeller (sign-and-trade), the Lakers’ 2025 first-round pick, and either the Pelicans’ or Bucks’ 2027 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable; top-four protected).

Draft picks

  • 1-21: Yves Missi
    • Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $15,654,827).
  • 2-47: Antonio Reeves
    • Signed to three-year, minimum-salary contract ($5,408,801). First year guaranteed. Second year non-guaranteed. Third year non-guaranteed team option.

Two-way signings

Departed/unsigned free agents

Other moves

  • Exercised Jeremiah Robinson-Earl‘s 2024/25 team option ($2,196,970).
  • Exercised Jose Alvarado‘s 2024/25 team option ($1,988,598).
  • Signed draft-and-stash prospect Karlo Matkovic to a three-year, $5,658,801 contract. First two years guaranteed. Third-year team option.
  • Claimed Trey Jemison (two-way) off waivers.

Salary cap situation

  • Operating over the cap ($140.6MM), over the luxury tax line ($170.8MM), and below the first tax apron ($178.1MM).
  • Carrying approximately $172.4MM in salary.
  • Hard-capped at $178,132,000.
  • Full mid-level, bi-annual exceptions available.
  • Two traded player exceptions available (largest worth $9,900,000).

The offseason so far

The Pelicans entered the summer with three key items on their to-do list — upgrading at point guard, finding a starting center, and resolving the Brandon Ingram situation.

Of those three goals, the Pelicans clearly achieved one of them, striking a deal with the Hawks to acquire Dejounte Murray to fortify their backcourt. The cost – including a rotation big man (Larry Nance Jr.), a former lottery pick with untapped potential (Dyson Daniels), and two future first-round picks – wasn’t cheap, but Murray should bring an intriguing new element to a Pelicans team that has relied on CJ McCollum to run the point in recent years.

While McCollum did OK in that role, Murray is more of a natural play-maker whose presence will allow McCollum to operate more off the ball, or perhaps even to run the second unit. And while Murray’s defensive numbers dropped off in Atlanta, he has an All-Defensive nod on his résumé and has the tools to bounce back on that side of the ball, upgrading the Pelicans’ perimeter defense.

The other two top items on the Pelicans’ offseason checklist remain a work in progress.

New Orleans is unwilling to offer Ingram a long-term, maximum-salary extension as he enters a contract year, and has rising sharpshooter Trey Murphy in the wings waiting to step into Ingram’s starting role. The team also lost its top two centers – Nance and Jonas Valanciunas – this offseason, with Valanciunas leaving for Washington in free agency.

The two-in-one solution to those issues would be to trade Ingram for a starting-caliber center, but New Orleans has explored that path with no success so far, as targets like Jarrett Allen, Nic Claxton, and Wendell Carter remained with their respective teams this summer. As a result, the cap-strapped Pelicans had to turn to free agency for a temporary solution at the five, bringing in veteran big man Daniel Theis on a minimum-salary deal.

Theis is better suited to be a backup, but he’s the best option the Pelicans have at center in the short term, with newly added rookies Yves Missi and Karlo Matkovic unlikely to play major roles right away and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl seemingly lacking starter upside. In a perfect world, Missi would enjoy a Dereck Lively-esque debut season and pair with Theis to form a reliable platoon in the middle. But it’s more likely that center will remain an area of need for New Orleans into the season.

As for Ingram, the Pelicans are said to be open to discussing an extension below the maximum, but with Zion Williamson occupying one forward spot and Murphy and Herbert Jones having earned significant roles, investing heavily in Ingram may not be the preferred path for the organization. As talented a scorer as he is, the former No. 2 overall pick isn’t an elite three-point shooter or defender, making him a somewhat awkward fit next to Williamson, who shares those traits.

Of course, those are the same reasons why another team might be reluctant to trade for Ingram and commit to paying his next contract, which hurts the Pelicans’ ability to extract a ton of value for him on the trade market. Ingram’s presence also gives New Orleans some high-level insurance in the event of a Williamson injury, which hasn’t exactly been a rare occurrence in recent years. It’ll be fascinating to see whether a trade or a new contract with New Orleans is the next step for the 2020 All-Star.


Up next

As detailed above, Ingram’s future with the franchise remains up in the air, but it’s possible no resolution comes before opening night. The forward will remain extension-eligible throughout the season, all the way up until June 30, 2025, and the Pelicans could trade him at anytime up until February’s deadline — or even in a sign-and-trade deal next summer. So while it would be nice to have an answer sooner rather than later, the two sides can afford to enter the regular season without an extension or trade.

The Pelicans have two more extension candidates with whom they’ll likely explore new deals before the season begins. Like Ingram, Jose Alvarado will be extension-eligible all year, but the team faces an October 21 deadline in its talks with Murphy. If Murphy hasn’t signed a rookie scale extension by that time, he’ll become a restricted free agent next July.

Murphy, 24, hasn’t made fewer than 38.0% of his three-point attempts in any of his three NBA seasons and has increased his shot volume every year, from 3.0 attempts per game as a rookie to 7.8 last season.

A player who can shoot like that and hold his own on defense is an extremely valuable asset and that will be reflected in his next contract. RJ Barrett, Jordan Poole, Tyler Herro, Jaden McDaniels, and Devin Vassell all received four- or five-year rookie scale extensions ranging from $107-135MM during the 2022 and 2023 offseasons. I expect Murphy to seek a deal at least in that neighborhood.

The cost for Alvarado shouldn’t be as high, but he’ll certainly be due a raise on his current minimum-salary contract after having established himself as a reliable rotation player for the Pelicans. The 26-year-old would be an unrestricted free agent next summer, so I expect New Orleans will make an effort to stop him from reaching the open market, but it remains to be seen how high the front office will be comfortable going for a reserve like Alvarado.

The Pelicans are currently carrying 15 players on standard contracts on three on two-way deals, so barring a preseason trade involving Ingram and/or a center, the roster looks pretty close to being set for the regular season.

We’ll see whether 15th man Matt Ryan opens the season on the roster or is waived for financial reasons. It’s also possible New Orleans will make a change or two to its two-way players — Malcolm Hill, whose two-way deal carried over from 2023/24, didn’t appear in a single game for the Pelicans last season, so it’s unclear whether he’s in their plans going forward. For what it’s worth, he had a strong year in the G League.

26 NBA Teams Have Made At Least One Offseason Trade

Since the NBA’s 2024 offseason began, 29 trades have been completed, as our tracker shows. A total of 26 teams have been involved in those 29 deals, with 20 clubs (two-thirds of the league) making multiple trades.

The defending champion Celtics are one of the four teams not to have made a trade this offseason, having been content to essentially run it back with the same group that went 16-3 in the postseason this past spring. The Bucks, Cavaliers, and Lakers also haven’t completed any deals since the season ended.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Knicks have been the most active team on the trade market, completing an eye-popping seven deals, two more than any other team.

Most of those trades were minor moves made during the draft — New York entered day one holding the 24th, 25th, and 38th overall picks, but ended up trading down in (or out of) the draft multiple times using the Nos. 24 and 38 selections, then acquired the No. 34 pick in a separate deal. Of course, the Knicks’ one non-draft trade was a big one, as they acquired Mikal Bridges from their cross-town rivals in Brooklyn.

Besides the Knicks, the Thunder were the most active team on the trade market this summer. They kicked off trade season by completing the first of this offseason’s 29 deals (acquiring Alex Caruso from Chicago) and then made four more, for a total of five. The Spurs and Trail Blazers made four trades apiece.

Here are some more details on this offseason’s deals:

  • The Nets, Hawks, Wizards, Mavericks, Pelicans, Timberwolves, Suns, and Warriors have each made three offseason trades, while the Raptors, Bulls, Pistons, Hornets, Grizzlies, Rockets, Nuggets, and Kings completed two apiece. That leaves the Sixers, Pacers, Heat, Magic, Jazz, and Clippers as the teams that have made just one trade.
  • A total of six 2024 first-round picks were traded this offseason, with one of those picks (No. 26) changing hands twice. The highest 2024 picks traded this summer were No. 8 (Rob Dillingham; Spurs to Timberwolves) and No. 14 (Carlton Carrington; Trail Blazers to Wizards).
  • Predictably, this year’s second-rounders were involved in far more trades than the first-rounders. Sixteen of the 28 second-round picks in the draft changed hands at least once since the offseason began, with four of those selections having been included in multiple deals — the No. 40 (Oso Ighodaro) and No. 52 (Quinten Post) picks were dealt three times, while Nos. 51 (Melvin Ajinca) and 56 (Kevin McCullar) were each moved twice.
  • A total of 12 future first-round picks and 30 future second-round picks changed hands in trades this offseason, along with six future first-round pick swaps and four future second-round swaps.
  • While some of those future traded picks included most/least favorable language, nearly all of them should convey as planned — only two traded first-rounders (and one swap) included any form of protection, and that protection was light (no more than top-four protected). Additionally, just three of the 30 traded second-rounders were protected.
  • Of the 29 trades made this offseason, 25 were straightforward two-team agreements. A pair of deals were three-teamers, one involved four teams, and one was the first six-team trade in NBA history.
  • A total of 29 veteran players on existing NBA contracts were traded this offseason, with two of those 29 players – Mamadi Diakite and E.J. Liddell – on the move twice and one of them – RaiQuan Gray – on a two-way deal. Another eight players were signed-and-traded, while an additional four players who were selected in a draft prior to 2024 draft had their NBA rights sent to new teams.

Real Madrid, Guerschon Yabusele Officially Part Ways

Real Madrid and forward/center Guerschon Yabusele have reached an agreement to end his contract with the Spanish club, the team officially announced today in a press release. The move helps clear the way for Yabusele to finalize his reported deal with the Sixers.

Yabusele’s contract with Real Madrid included an NBA-opt out clause with a buyout reportedly worth $2.5MM. NBA rules allow the 76ers to contribute up to $850K of that amount without it counting toward their cap, but that left $1.65MM still to cover.

A team with more cap flexibility could’ve accommodated that remaining amount within Yabusele’s cap hit (e.g. paying him a $3MM salary and taking on a $4.65MM cap charge). However, because Yabusele is signing a veteran’s minimum contract with Philadelphia, his salary will be just $2,087,519, so taking the $1.65MM from that amount would essentially wipe out his NBA earnings for 2024/25.

Yabusele and Madrid were said to be negotiating the terms of his buyout. No details have been reported yet, so it’s unclear if the Spanish team may have agreed to reduce the $2.5MM total or worked out some sort of payment plan. Either way, the situation has been resolved, putting Yabusele on track to officially sign with Philadelphia once he receives FIBA clearance.

Yabusele didn’t emerge as a regular rotation player during his previous NBA stint from 2017-19 in Boston, but has thrived overseas in recent years, winning a EuroLeague title (2023) and two Spanish League (Liga ACB) titles (2022, 2024) with Real Madrid after claiming a French League (LNB Pro A) championship with ASVEL in 2021. He was also one of the key contributors to the French national team that won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics this summer.

Community Shootaround: Bulls’ 2024 Offseason

This summer, the Bulls finally, officially stopped pretending they were close to competing for anything but a play-in tournament berth.

Three years after offloading major draft capital in the hopes of becoming Eastern Conference contenders, Chicago waived the white flag. The Bulls’ front office moved probably two of its three best trade chips in two-time All-Defensive Team guard Alex Caruso and six-time All-Star small forward DeMar DeRozan. The third, 24-year-old emerging point guard Coby White, remains on the roster after a breakout individual season in 2023/24.

DeRozan agreed to a three-year, $73.7MM deal with the Kings as part of a three-team sign-and-trade with the Bulls and Spurs. San Antonio netted an unprotected first-round pick swap, as well as the contract of 3-and-D combo forward Harrison Barnes. Chicago, despite moving by far the best player in the deal, only nabbed two second rounders and reserve shooting guard Chris Duarte.

Caruso was shipped out to the Thunder in exchange for point guard Josh Giddey, who by the end of this spring’s playoffs was a barely-used eighth man, averaging just 12.6 minutes per game in Oklahoma City’s second-round series to the Finals-bound Mavericks. Giddey’s missing-in-action jumper and poor defense made him a liability in his postseason debut. Luckily for the 6’8″ Aussie, he’s not in danger of making the playoffs again any time soon.

Oklahoma City gave up a pair of second-round picks to obtain Gordon Hayward in a trade deadline trade. Caruso, on an expiring $9.9MM sweetheart deal, is one of the league’s elite defenders, and surely could have netted some level of first-round equity. The Bulls reportedly received offers along those lines but preferred to acquire an established young veteran in Giddey.

Two more veteran former All-Stars remain very available on the trade market. But the Bulls can’t seem to give away either shooting guard Zach LaVine or center Nikola Vucevic, both of whom are on far-too-generous multiyear contracts.

Armed with a core of DeRozan, LaVine, Vucevic, Lonzo Ball, Caruso and White, the Bulls went a combined 125-121 across three seasons. Chicago did make the playoffs once, during this group’s first year together in 2021/22, but was quickly eliminated in the first round and hasn’t survived the play-in tournament since.

The team has been stubbornly resistant to making significant moves to improve its defense or long-range shooting since Ball went down with a left knee meniscus tear in January 2022. He’s currently rehabbing after his third surgery, and hoping to make a comeback in the final year of his contract.

The Bulls selected intriguing young G League Ignite forward Matas Buzelis with the No. 11 pick in this year’s poorly regarded draft. The 6’10” pro was an underwhelming floor-spacer in the G League, making just 27.3% of his 3.4 three-point tries, but flashed encouraging finishing ability and athleticism during his Summer League games with Chicago.

Chicago’s only major free agent addition thus far is ex-Pacers reserve big man Jalen Smith, who signed a three-season, $27MM deal. At 24, the 6’10” Maryland alum could conceivably grow along with the rebuilding Bulls.

The Bulls also re-signed restricted free agent forward Patrick Williams to a generous five-year, $90MM new deal. The 23-year-old incurred a left foot injury in January that required season-ending surgery. Due to minimal frontcourt size elsewhere, the 6’7″ wing has often been miscast by Chicago head coach Billy Donovan as a power forward, but his skinny frame has impeded his ability to get much offense cooking against opposing defenders.

Across 43 games last season, Williams averaged 10.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.5 assists with a shooting line of .443/.399/.788. Those numbers are more or less the same as his rookie season output (9.2 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 1.4 APG, .483/.391/.728 shooting). Though he has improved defensively during his four pro seasons, the Florida State alum has been a developmental dud on the other end, hampered by a slow release on his jump shots.

We want to hear from you. Did the Bulls get enough back in their deals for DeRozan and Caruso? How should they handle the contracts of Vucevic and LaVine? Will Ball even vaguely resemble his pre-injury self? Was Buzelis the right draft pick, or will he eventually go down in Bulls history as a lottery misfire? How much more leeway should owner Jerry Reinsdorf give team president Arturas Karnisovas, who has underwhelmed during his tenure with the team thus far?

Let us know how you feel in the comments section below.