The Chicago Bulls fired Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas and General Manager Marc Eversley Monday, capping off a turbulent final stretch with the team.
The move came one week after the Bulls waived guard Jaden Ivey, citing conduct detrimental to the team after social media comments criticizing the NBA’s Pride Month promotion.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Ivey pushed back on the team’s explanation, questioning why the Bulls did not simply say they disagreed with his stance.
224 Wins, One Playoff Series
Karnisovas and Eversley were brought in ahead of the 2020-21 season to rebuild the franchise. Chicago went 224-254 under the pair and made the playoffs only once, in a five-game first-round loss to Milwaukee in 2022.
Chicago is currently 29-49 as of press time, sitting 12th in the Eastern Conference.
“These decisions are never easy, especially when they involve people we respect both personally and professionally. We are grateful for their dedication and the work they’ve put in over the past six years. At the same time, we have not had the success our fans deserve, and it’s my responsibility to go in a new direction,” Bulls owner Michael Reinsdorf said in a statement on Monday.
The Karnisovas era had a promising start. He moved aggressively at his first trade deadline to acquire center Nikola Vucevic, then overhauled the roster in the summer of 2021 by landing Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, and DeMar DeRozan. The Bulls raced to a 38-21 record before the All-Star break in 2021-22, generating some fresh new excitement in Chicago for the first time in years.
Then Lonzo Ball got hurt, and he never came back. And that window seemed to close almost as fast as it opened. What followed was a slow and costly attempt at a rebuild. Chicago moved off its core players for modest returns, most notably dealing Zach Lavine – fresh off a supermax contract extension – without getting back enough to restock the roster. Three consecutive play-in exits followed, each one reinforcing the sense that the front office was neither truly rebuilding toward something nor fully committing to a teardown.
This season offered a brief flicker of hope – the Bulls opened 5-0 and won six of their first seven games, the best start since the Michael Jordan era – before injuries sent them into a spiral. They have gone 6-27 over their last 33 games. At the trade deadline, Karnisovas described the moves as an effort “to get out of the middle,” dealing away seven players including fan favorites Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu.
The Ivey situation just landed in the middle of that already-chaotic stretch. The guard had played just four games for Chicago after being acquired in a February trade before being shut down with a knee injury – and then waived days later following his social media posts.
As DX previously reported, Ivey told followers he believes teams may now be hesitant to sign him because of his faith, saying, “I’m not the J.I. I used to be. The old J.I. is dead. I’m alive in Christ no matter what the basketball setting is.”
“[The Bulls] said my conduct is detrimental to the team,” Ivey added. “Why didn’t they just say, ‘We don’t agree with his stance on LGBTQ’? Why didn’t they say that? … How is it conduct detrimental to the team? What did I do to the team?
What’s Next in Chicago
Coach Billy Donovan, who has been with the Bulls since April 2020, is expected to keep his job. Sources close to the Bulls told ESPN the organization is high on Donovan and plans to meet with him after the season about his future with the team.
The Bulls will now enter the offseason holding their own lottery pick and nearly $60 million in cap space, with a young core that includes Josh Giddey, Matas Buzelis, and Tre Jones. However, a search is now expected to find replacements for Karnisovas and Eversley.
Reinsdorf closed his statement with a direct message to the fanbase: “I want our fans to know that I hear you and understand the frustration. I feel it as well. I know this will take time, and I am fully committed to getting this right.”