The Chicago Bulls had really hoped that Kris Dunn would become a focal point of the Jimmy Butler trade. Somebody who along with Zach Lavine and Lauri Markkannen would form a young core to build around for the future. There were glimpses of what he could potentially do as a point guard in 2017-2018. However, availability was an issue. Then problems regarding his work ethic surfaced last season, along with more injury setbacks.
Now he’s apparently surprised and angry that the team has made an effort to improve their backcourt. Both with the drafting of Coby White and sign-and-trade for Tomas Satoransky. It’s not hard to understand why. Dunn hasn’t done enough to earn the job. Yet it appears he’s all but ready to make his exit from Chicago at the first opportunity.
Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times went on Bernstein & McKnight of 670 The Score to talk about the Bulls. When the subject of Dunn came up, he made it crystal clear the 25-year old isn’t even trying to fight for the job.
“Right now I’ve talked to people. He’s checked out. He’s checked out. So he’s there in Vegas now, but his agent and he are both kind of checked out. That’s the concerning thing because his makeup and what he preaches is ‘I’m a dog, I’m a dog.” You know he keeps giving you’re going to have to pry the starting job from me.
Now this is the second offseason there’s kind of been flags raised on, ‘Does he really want to be here?’ Is he angry that last year they bought Trey Young into camp and for a pre-draft visit? It ticked Dunn off. There were some poor workouts from him where he kind of just half-assed the weight room aspect of the training block.”
Bulls silence on Kris Dunn suggests they are eyeing a trade
One would imagine if this is the case that the Bulls would be a little more irritated. Their silence on the matter actually speaks volumes. It is likely they are doing everything in their power to guard against any controversies. This way they stand a far better chance of trading Dunn. He’s still young and has shown promise in the past. It’s still possible that he can flourish in the right circumstances.
Or at least that’s what the Bulls brass will be selling to potential partners.
What they can get for him in return? Not much. Probably a 2nd round pick or a player-for-player swap. Given the Bulls appear better at point guard, they may try to seek out some depth at either shooting guard or center. They don’t have a lot of proven names behind Lavine or Wendell Carter Jr. Then again there’s no guarantee they can even find a suitor, so it’s something to watch carefully.
