In April of 2020, the Chicago Bulls hired Arturas Karnisovas as the vice president of basketball operations. His impressive work with the Denver Nuggets to build a championship-winning roster was the main selling point for the Bulls, who hoped he’d use a similar approach to return them to relevance and contention. With his first draft selection as the leader in the front office, he chose Patrick Williams. Most Bulls fans can agree that he has been the organization’s most significant draft bust of this decade and one of the most disappointing top-five picks in their history. During Karnisovas’s time in Chicago, they’ve made the playoffs once, a first-round exit, and have failed to make significant improvements since his hiring. Each year, blossoming stars come out of the draft, and many of them are selected after Chicago has passed them up. This season, another rookie is proving Karnisovas wrong in the early going.
Derik Queen Should Be A Chicago Bull
Many pre-draft predictions and mock selection lists had the Bulls vying for Derik Queen from the University of Maryland. In college, he was named to the First-Team All-Big Ten and received the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award. He posted 16.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game in his 36 collegiate outings. Coming into the draft, he was one of the most skilled and offensively refined big men. With Nikola Vucevic’s contract expiring and no actual power forward on the roster, the Bulls were a commonly named landing spot for his talents.
"Derik Queen has the potential of a Sengun/Baby Jokic that's how skilled he is. Relentless on the glass. This kid Fears is gonna play big time minutes as a primary ball handler… Theyre gonna make some noise"
— @KendrickPerkins picks the Pelicans as his winner of Round 1 pic.twitter.com/SFKTNcDmcG
— Pelicans Film Room (@PelsFilmRoom) June 26, 2025
Derik Queen in games where he plays 30+ minutes
28.0 ppg
8.0 rpg
4.0 apg
67% from the fieldROOKIE OF THE YEAR pic.twitter.com/5ujayKQvcN
— Garrett Bobby Ferguson (@GBF_Terps) November 20, 2025
This will be added to a growing list of players who have outperformed their draft positioning after Chicago has passed on them. This one is among the most painful, not only because of the apparent need in the position and the pre-draft prediction that Queen would be gone by their selection at 12th overall, but also because Noa Essengue has not played a single minute this season.
Pressure Is On For Noa Essengue
Derik Queen’s early heroics only put more pressure on Chicago’s draft selection. Picked one spot ahead of Queen, Essengue feels miles behind. Not only has he not put up the video game numbers that the Maryland big man has, but he hasn’t earned a spot in the rotation yet this season. This is a tough one to explain from Karnisovas and his group, especially in the rapid rebuild that the Bulls are undergoing. Any players with an immediate impact are sorely needed, especially at the center or power forward positions.
Hopefully Noa Essengue is REALLY good.
Because the Bulls passed on Derik Queen when half the fanbase begged to draft Queen. He was there too.
Only time will tell… https://t.co/1Pb5qkAt7N
— Die-Hard Chicago Bulls Fans (@DieHardCBfans) November 20, 2025
It’s far too early to say with certainty if Karnisovas made a massive mistake with his draft choice, but the odds are not in his favor. Essengue still needs to be given a fair evaluation, and he has made major splashes in his limited action in the NBA Summer League and the G League. Regardless, he’s not dropping 30-point games at the NBA level yet, so he’s already behind pace from his fellow draftee.
2025 NBA lottery pick Noa Essengue just made his G League debut scoring 28 PTS and 8 REB for the @windycitybulls 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/fqiJfqgYAz
— NBA G League (@nbagleague) November 12, 2025
Will Essengue be the final straw for the Karnisovas leadership group? Allowing yet another elite talent to slip away while opting for a G League developmental project instead is a damning mistake. How quickly does Chicago’s rookie make it to the professional stage, and can he validate Karnisovas’s decision before it’s too late?
