Per Shams Charania, the Chicago Bulls have waived guard Jaden Ivey following his recent social media activity. Over the last 24 hours, a flip was switched in the worst way for the former Detroit Pistons top-five draft pick. He began making comments, videos, and posts on social media that started with his views on religion and being combative with several fans, and have since expanded into his opinions on the NBA supporting the LGBTQ community and his disapproval of it. The Bulls wasted no time parting ways with the newly-acquired guard, whose contract expires this summer, and it turns all attention once again to Arturas Karnisovas in terms of the franchise’s future. Clearly, Ivey’s mental well-being is at the forefront of concern, but as far as the organization’s operations, the question remains how Karnisovas did not do more research into a player who not only has gone on this baffling social media tear, but also a guy who actively admits his playing days are over, he’ll never be the same player as he was prior to the massive injury he sustained in January of 2025, and that was pre-labeled a “preacher” according to Joe Cowley of Chicago Sun-Times.

Shifts The Front Office Summer Plan

With nine expiring contracts after the next eight games, Chicago’s summer could get hectic in a hurry. As detailed here, Ivey was one of the franchise’s long-term assets it planned to invest in as a running mate to Josh Giddey. Taking today’s news into consideration, they’ll clearly be pivoting from that projected backcourt. In short, it means Karnisovas traded Kevin Huerter to a contending roster for a player who appeared in only 4 games for the franchise. Two things to note: first, Huerter was never going to net a slam-dunk addition, but he could’ve been flipped elsewhere for draft capital or a young asset with investment potential, and the second being that the last 24 hours could not have been foreseen, but the writing was on the wall months ago that Ivey’s career between the lines was rapidly declining and that he was not going to be the same player he was coming out of Purdue. The latter portion should’ve been easily detectable by Chicago’s front office leader.

By the way, it's important to note during the trade even the Bulls media was informed that Ivey's a "preacher" so be prepared for that in interviews. He's obviously derailed into something else … but if we heard that, what was AK listening to before the trade? The streets talk.

— Joe Cowley (@JCowleyHoops) March 30, 2026

Without unraveling specifics on Ivey’s last 24 hours of rants and posts, all basketball fans hope he can find health and peace. For the Bulls, it shifts the future in a new direction.

Collin Sexton Might Be Sticking Around

The roster implications of today’s reports mean one thing: the door just opened for another guard to sign an extension. With Ivey out of the picture, Giddey and Tre Jones under contract for several years, and Rob Dillingham slowly earning his minutes off the bench, there’s new room for two more guards. Most mock drafts have Chicago finding the backcourt piece that fits best alongside their 23-year-old point guard, and the majority of rumors say Anfernee Simons is headed elsewhere this summer, leaving Collin Sexton as the lone option to fill the spot until the rebuild is closer to completion. This isn’t all bad news for Chicago, as he’s been the highest-motor, easiest-to-root-for addition at the trade deadline and brings a competitive fire that will help motivate and teach the youngsters how to play with grit and toughness despite the anticipated losing record. He’s already proven to be a solid role model for the next wave of talent and will run the bench unit until Dillingham’s offensive abilities fully evolve.

Collin Sexton last 9 games

20.7 PPG
2.6 RPG
3.1 APG
1.1 SPG
2.9 3/PG
54% FG
25.8 MPG

His playing time has been all over the place throughout this stretch, but he has produced consistent value regardless, and has taken over a lot of scoring and usage responsibilities in Chicago…

— Fantasy 365 (@FantasyBall365) March 28, 2026

Is today’s news with Ivey the final straw for the Karnisovas leadership group, or does ownership see this as an unforeseen turn of events?

Fans of the Chicago Bulls have been yearning for a full reset for several years. After the DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, and Nikola Vucevic trio fizzled and failed to deliver playoff success, the masses thought Arturas Karnisovas should fire-sell and start over, trading those three and other aging veterans for future assets. Instead, AK’s group rode out the same bunch for far too long, failed to reach the second round of the postseason for a 10th consecutive season, and has landed in the middle of the draft order ever since Patrick Williams was selected fourth overall. This year, they finally got their wish, but it wasn’t all good news. The Bulls added a surplus of guards, several of them on expiring contracts, and created more confusion than clarity about the franchise’s future. With two months to decide which assets would be gone this summer and which they want to contribute to the rebuild project 3-5 years down the line, things have gone sideways. Several injuries to the newcomers and familiar faces, the refusal of head coach Billy Donovan to surrender their chances of winning each night in favor of developing young players, and a few meaningless victories later, the Bulls are in the same place they’ve been for five campaigns. Let’s check in on perhaps the highest upside add at the trade cutoff.

High Hopes For Rob Dillingham

Walking bucket. Shifty. Doesn’t get enough playing time. Elite scoring potential. These were all the things being said by the Timberwolves’ organization and fanbase, and a large reason Karnisovas sent Ayo Dosunmu up to Minnesota. The goal for Rob Dillingham, who’s under contract for the next two seasons before hitting restricted free agency, is to develop him into the sixth man in Chicago and replace Coby White at a cheaper price tag in the near future. Through his first 22 games, the potential has been seen in spurts, but the consistency is not dependable enough to give him the keys to the second unit. Coming out of the draft in 2024, many of his selling points revolved around his scoring abilities, offensive sparkplug abilities, and potential to be one of the league’s premier bucket-getters. The Bulls will need to see a much more sustainable product in the next two years if they hope to cement his status as the main scoring option off the pine.

A projected top-5 pick, Rob Dillingham's explosiveness, jittery handle, live-dribble passing and ability to hit pull-up, stepback and sidestep 3s makes him one of college basketball's most difficult covers — drawing some comparisons to Trae Young. pic.twitter.com/Fsn32Or6j0

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) February 10, 2024

Seeing The Potential In Spurts

In a five-game stretch in mid-March, the ideal Dillingham came to form. He averaged 25.2 minutes per night, the most for any five-game stretch in his young career, and posted 14.2 points with 4.0 assists with a 40.5% clip from the floor and 40.0% rate from three-point land. The shooting efficiencies will need to improve with time, but the flashes of offensive excellence are evident. At only 21 years old, he perfectly aligns with Chicago’s rebuild timeline, and with two additional seasons of contractual control, he’s a superb experiment to develop on a bottom-dwelling roster.

Rob Dillingham 📈 pic.twitter.com/1ZHOcvrijg

— Real App (@realapp) March 20, 2026

The potential for an explosive offensive weapon is there, but, as with Matas Buzelis, playing time and exposure are the two solutions in his formula for success. Will Dillingham evolve into the player Chicago hopes he can be, or will this trade with Minnesota haunt the franchise and add another tally to Karnisovas’s list of regrettable moves as the leader of the front office?

As the season winds down and Chicago faces a summer that could have a thousand different outcomes in terms of roster, front office status, head coach uncertainty, and potentially franchise-altering draft choices, one name has slid under the radar for far too long. Patrick Williams is the most disappointing Chicago Bull of this decade, and potentially the biggest draft bust in the organization’s illustrious history. Three top-five picks from 2000-2006 were similarly terrible in Chicago, but they weren’t granted extensions to continue proving how lackluster the choice truly was. In Williams’ case, he’s had six seasons, is under contract for three more, and has only regressed throughout his NBA career. How do the Bulls get out from under his lucrative deal, and should this be a defining failure of Arturas Karnisovas?

Short Answer: There’s No Easy Way Out

All Bulls fans can agree that the former Florida State Seminole has been a nightmare in Chicago. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as just cutting him from the team. This would create $18 million in dead cap over the next three seasons. Instead, the easiest route is to convince an opposing club that this is a 24-year-old player with upside that simply needs a scene reset. At this price, it’s a gamble for any other franchise to absorb a player who cannot earn minutes on one of the worst rosters leaguewide, has shown little to no improvement in six years, and who, at $54 million total left on his deal, is a long-term commitment. Assuming that Karnisovas tried his best to dump the overpriced forward at this year’s deadline, it’s a fair assessment to admit there are no willing suitors.

Patrick Williams has already made about $68 million in his NBA career — roughly $32M on his rookie deal + ~$36M through two years of his new contract.

And he’s still owed $54M over the next 3 years. pic.twitter.com/G7uLczoekF

— See Red Fred (@cbefred) March 28, 2026

When it’s said and done, AK will have paid over $120 million for a player that averaged a career-low 6.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 19.7 minutes per contest while shooting an abysmal 38.1% from the floor this year. Drafting and extending this player should tell the Chicago ownership group all they need to know regarding his roster-building and player-evaluating capabilities, or lack thereof.

The Only Logical Solution: Waive And Stretch His Contract

The lone remaining solution after tricking someone into trading for the overpriced forward is to waive the player and stretch his contract. With this provision, the NBA allows a team to waive the player, and instead of the burden of a flat-rate dead-cap contract for his remaining years of guaranteed money, double the number of years and add one. In the case of Williams, this would mean taking his $54 million in fully guaranteed money left and, instead of the $18 million annual commitment from Chicago, they’d owe him $7.7 million until 2033.

The problem isn’t that Patrick Williams is a bust.

Teams draft busts all the time. It’s a part of the game. The issue is giving him a massive contract after seeing that he’s a bust.

Then doubling down and keeping him as a starter over Matas Buzelis. pic.twitter.com/EsDnlwcl9u

— Die-Hard Chicago Bulls Fans (@Bullsfans) January 26, 2025

Is adding dead cap better than trotting out this depreciated asset night after night and continually being disappointed? He’s not contributing to winning basketball, the front office has found similarly terrible ways to spend $8 million each year, and if they can’t find a trade partner, this might be the only solution left.

Take your pick: Commit to the next three years at a $18 million price tag and then move on, find a trade partner even if you have to add draft stock or other assets simply to dump him, or waive and defer his contract and create a financial burden for the next decade?

Whatever the answer, don’t let the predicament distract you from the loudest message here: Karnisovas not only drafted him fourth overall, but inked him to a 5-year, $90 million extension, and should be fired for those two moves alone.