The NBA the last time the Bulls traded a player: Harden in Brooklyn, Walton with the Kings
The 2024 NBA trade deadline's been a busy one. More than half of the league has been involved in at least one trade to tweak rosters ahead of All-Star weekend in Indianapolis and the final stretch before the playoffs.
One team that's absent from the action is the Chicago Bulls. Executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas spoke with media Thursday and said the team "didn’t see anything that would make us better."
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This isn't a surprise. Chicago didn't make any trades at the last deadline, or the one before that. In fact, it's been nearly two and a half years since the Bulls traded a player at all. On Aug. 28, 2021, the Bulls traded Lauri Markkanen to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team deal that gave them Derrick Jones Jr., a 2022 first round draft pick, and a 2023 second round draft pick.
Since then, Chicago's only made one trade and it didn't involve giving up a player: a deal during the 2023 NBA Draft to acquire the draft rights to second-round pick Julian Phillips. To get him, the Bulls sent two second round draft picks to the Washington Wizards.
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This level of inactivity is an anomaly in the league. The NBA average in that time is nine trades; Boston's been involved in the most in that span with 18 trades at the time of publishing.
Here's what the NBA and basketball in general looked like the last time the Bulls traded a player:
James Harden was a Brooklyn Net with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving
Brooklyn's big three were set for a big season but didn't have the anticipated success. Irving's COVID-19 vaccination status kept him out of the lineup for the opening months of the season. He returned to the court on Jan. 5, 2022 only to see Durant sprain his MCL days later and Harden to be traded to the Philadelphia 76ers a month later.
The trio played in just 17 games together and all three have been traded again: Irving to the Dallas Mavericks and Durant to the Phoenix Suns in February 2023 and Harden from the 76ers to the Los Angeles Clippers last Halloween.
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Frank Vogel was coach of the Los Angeles Lakers
In August 2021, Los Angeles was less than a year removed from winning the 2020 NBA championship in the NBA bubble. The shortest offseason in NBA history didn't help the defending champions in the 2020-21 season as injuries sidelined Anthony Davis for much of the year and the Lakers were eliminated in the first round by the Phoenix Suns.
Vogel and the Lakers were regrouping after a trade sent Russell Westbrook to Los Angeles but eventually missed the playoffs. The Lakers fired Vogel in April 2022. Fourteen months later, he was back on the sidelines as the Suns' head coach. They're 30-21 at the time of publishing.
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Chet Holmgren hadn't played a college basketball game
One of the best rookies in the NBA this season hadn't suited up beyond the high school level the last time the Bulls traded a player.
Holmgren was nearly three months away from his debut for the Gonzaga Bulldogs against Utah Tech. He'd end up totaling 14 points, 13 rebounds, seven blocks, and six assists in Gonzaga's 97-63 win on Nov. 9, 2021.
Luke Walton was coach of the Sacramento Kings
The Kings had consecutive 31-41 seasons with Walton at the helm in the 2019-20 and 2020-21. While Chicago was shipping Markkanen out to Cleveland, Walton was set to start the season with a squad including Tyrese Haliburton, Marvin Bagley III, Buddy Hield, and Tristan Thompson.
Walton was subsequently fired after a 6-11 start, replaced by Alvin Gentry, and all four of those players have since been traded. The Kings hired Mike Brown ahead of the 2022-23 season and he earned Coach of the Year honors as Sacramento ended the franchise's 16-year playoff drought.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NBA looked different the last time the Chicago Bulls traded a player
