The King of the Fourth became an actual King last weekend after Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan went to Sacramento in a sign-and-trade.
The Kings get the best clutch player in the NBA, a clubhouse leader and a future Hall of Famer. The Bulls get two second-round picks and reserve guard Chris Duarte while increasing their chances of tanking and securing the top-10 pick next year that otherwise goes to the San Antonio Spurs.
From the outside, it looks like another bad move for the Bulls, on top of the one that sent Alex Caruso to Oklahoma City for Josh Giddey. The team is getting progressively worse as the offseason continues, a trend that figures to continue when (or if?) they deal Zach LaVine, their only remaining player who has appeared in an All-Star game the past three years.
From the inside, I’m sure executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas is patting himself on the back for kick-starting a rebuild that’s certain to buy him more time with Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.
Karnišovas telegraphed his intentions at the end of the season and now is carrying through with his plan. His last plan didn’t work so well. The Bulls have a .491 winning percentage in his four years at the helm, and only one playoff appearance.
Karnišovas knew the Bulls’ core would eventually be broken up, but did nothing at the ’24 trade deadline. Now he’s actually breaking it up, and getting next to nothing in return.
In Reinsdorf’s mind, that counts as progress. Remember he let Rick Hahn execute a rebuild after four failed seasons as the White Sox general manager, and watched him win one postseason game in the next six seasons before firing him last summer.
It’s mind-blowing to be a Chicago sports fan and see the same things happen over and over.
When DeRozan arrived in Chicago three summers ago, I admittedly was not overwhelmed. He hadn’t made an All-Star team since 2017-18, and it seemed as though his best years were in the past. He basically disappeared in San Antonio following a stellar career in Toronto.
But DeRozan soon proved he was far from finished, leading the Bulls to the top of the Eastern Conference at the outset of his first season. They had a 27-11 record and were atop the East on Jan. 11, 2022, and DeRozan had come up big so often that he earned his “King of the Fourth” moniker.
But the Bulls’ season fell apart with the loss of Lonzo Ball two games later, and they never recovered. Karnišovas didn’t get DeRozan or LaVine any scoring help the next two offseasons, and both seasons resulted in losses in the play-in round.
So the DeRozan era ended with a thud — only one playoff appearance, the 4-1 first-round loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in ’22.
None of this was his fault, mind you. DeRozan continued to defy age and played almost every game in the era of load management, where veterans tend to sit out the second game of back-to-backs every opportunity they get.
How many times does a 34-year-old lead the league in total minutes or minutes per game, as DeRozan did last year? I’ll hang up and listen for the answer.
Love and losses: How DeMar DeRozan defined the Chicago Bulls during his 3-year tenure
DeRozan said all along he loved Chicago and wanted to return, but assuredly he knew the Bulls weren’t interested, especially after the Caruso deal before the draft. DeRozan turns 35 next month, so perhaps it made perfect basketball sense for Karnišovas not to bring him back. The three-year, $74 million deal with the Kings carries some risks at his age.
But DeRozan will now be a part of a new Big Three in Sacramento with De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, and will have a better chance at finally winning a ring than he would’ve had in Chicago.
Whether he can help make the Kings into a true contender in the West is debatable with the emergence of the young guns in Minnesota and Oklahoma City and a Denver team that now has something to prove after being knocked out of the playoffs by the Timberwolves in a Game 7 loss on their home court.
Either way, Sacramento fans are already excited about the acquisition. DeRozan received a big ovation when he and Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé walked through the tunnel together at the Golden 1 Center on Saturday for the Kings’ California Summer League game. It was a king’s welcome if there ever was one.
It was heartening to see, and a reminder of how much DeRozan was loved and respected in Chicago. He wasn’t just another basketball player for the Bulls, but the heartbeat of the franchise, one of the best teammates you could ask for and always available and accountable to the media no matter how tough a loss.
Ayo Dosunmu, Coby White and Patrick Williams all owe him a debt of gratitude for teaching them how to be professionals. Hopefully, those lessons will endure.
The Bulls might be able to replace his scoring, but it’s a stretch to believe they can replace DeRozan’s presence in the locker room. Maybe that doesn’t matter to Karnišovas if they keep getting younger and don’t intend on contending for a few years. But it should.
Assuming Karnišovas finds a new location for LaVine, the 2024-25 Bulls will be White’s chance to be the star of the show. He was one of the finalists for Most Improved Player last year and seemed to have elevated his game for keeps after a career marked by streakiness.
If first-round pick Matas Buzelis lives up to his draft-day hype, and Giddey emerges with a bigger offensive role than he was afforded in Oklahoma City, it should at least be a team that’s fun to watch on a nightly basis.
Nikola Vučević could even remain in the middle and continue to serve as a double-double threat, with newly signed center Jalen Smith providing more scoring off the bench than they got from Andre Drummond.
Karnišovas isn’t done yet, so maybe he has something up his sleeve that will crank up the optimism from Bulls Nation. If not, it’s just going to put more pressure on Caleb Williams to bring Chicago a winner with the Bears.
On the bright side, at least the Bulls have a head start on the DeRozan tribute video for next season when the Kings come to town.
Homecomings for former Chicago heroes are what we do best.
