The Chicago Bulls didn’t get any lottery luck this year, so they sent their first-round pick (No. 8) to the Orlando Magic due to the Nikola Vucevic trade. The Bulls head into Thursday’s 2021 NBA Draft with only the No. 38 pick.
Chicago could look to trade back into the first round or try to get another pick or two in the second round, but there hasn’t been much buzz about that leading up to the draft. While that doesn’t necessarily mean much given Arturas Karnisovas’ track record so far, it could be a rather quiet night for the Bulls as their offseason gets underway in earnest.
Chicago needs help all across the roster, so Karnisovas could go in any direction with the 38th pick. The need to upgrade at point guard has been the biggest storyline heading into the offseason. The Bulls also need wing depth after being thin there for years. The frontcourt had a good amount of depth this past season after the trade deadline, but Lauri Markkanen and Daniel Theis are free agents, with Thaddeus Young also a candidate to be elsewhere depending on the team’s strategy. It looks like 2020 second-round pick Marko Simonovic is going to come over to Chicago, but he can’t be counted on for impact minutes yet.
The Bulls will go with the best player available on their board at No. 38, but who could that be? Mock drafts (as of Thursday morning) from across the internet reflect the variety of options Chicago will have to explore.
ESPN’s Jonathan Givony has the Bulls selecting Pepperdine’s Kessler Edwards, a 6-foot-8 forward who put up 17.2 points per game and shot 37.8% on 3-pointers this past season as a junior.
The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie pegs Oklahoma guard Austin Reaves to Chicago. Reaves is on the older side at 23 years old, and he struggled with his 3-point shooting in his two years at Oklahoma after shooting better at Wichita State. The 6-foot-5 guard was productive last season with 18.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.
Over at Bleacher Report, Jonathan Wasserman has the Bulls taking Western Kentucky center Charles Bassey. The 6-foot-11 big man had his sophomore season cut short due to a tibial plateau fracture, but he returned this past season and put up 17.6 points, 11.6 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game while shooting 59.0% from the field.
The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor mocks Gonzaga guard Joel Ayayi to Chicago. O’Connor says Ayayi would be a nice fit next to Zach LaVine thanks to his two-way ability and “selfless game.” The 6-foot-5 guard averaged 12.0 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists while shooting 57.5% rom the field and 38.9% from 3 on a dominant Zags squad.
Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated goes with Ohio’s Jason Preston to bolster the Bulls’ backcourt. Preston has an incredible story, barely playing in high school before attending a prep school and becoming a late bloomer. The 6-foot-4 guard caught the attention of Ohio by posting his own highlight video to Twitter and wound up shining with the Bobcats, averaging 15.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists while shooting 51.4% overall and 39.0% from 3 this past season as a junior.
Duke’s Matthew Hurt goes to Chicago in Kyle Boone’s mock over at CBS Sports. Boone notes that Hurt would be a natural replacement for Markkanen thanks to his 44.4% 3-point shooting at 6-foot-9 this past season.
Krysten Peek at Yahoo Sports has the Bulls taking G League Ignite talent Isaiah Todd. The 6-foot-10 forward averaged 12.3 points and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 43.7% overall and 36.2% from 3 in 15 games for the G League Ignite.
As always, there are plenty of other options out there. It would be neat to have a shot at local product Ayo Dosunmu, but that would almost certainly require a trade up. The Illinois star is projected to go late in the first round or early second.
The Bulls are about to get going on a crucial offseason as they look to retool and build a playoff roster around Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic. This 2021 NBA Draft might wind up not mattering all that much in the grand scheme of things, but perhaps Chicago gets a steal at No. 38. There’s also always the possibility of Karnisovas having something up his sleeve in terms of a trade (or trades), so stay tuned.
