NEW YORK — Billy Donovan was very transparent in the final days leading up to the NBA trade deadline.
The Bulls coach insisted on Tuesday that he liked the roster as is, and more importantly, so did his bosses.
So with the deadline passing on Thursday afternoon, the idea that the Bulls didn’t make a deal wasn’t one of shock.
“You mean blow the whole thing up? I don’t see [that],’’ Donovan said after loss in Memphis. “The way I would look at it from my perspective is I know that I really, really like our guys a lot in terms of working with them, and where the heart and the spirit is at. And I think [executive vice president of basketball operations] Arturas [Karnisovas] likes this group better. As much as I do, I think he likes them too. He wants to continually see these guys get better.’’
They’ll get that chance now that they’ve made the decision to stand pat.
That doesn’t mean they weren’t at least open for business in the listening department.
A source told the Sun-Times that the Bulls and New York Knicks were revisiting talks about two-time All-Star Zach LaVine that had broken off on Wednesday night.
The roadblock ended up being the players involved, even with the Bulls getting back draft capital in the package.
The Bulls had inked LaVine to a max deal last offseason, paying him $215 million for five seasons. A source did say that the Bulls weren’t as married to LaVine as some think, and could again test the market on the two-time All-Star this summer.
One of many decisions the Bulls will have to now make.
Nikola Vucevic will be an unrestricted free agent and Coby White will be a restricted free agent. The Bulls have only crossed over the salary cap line once, so will have some tough calls to make on how they want this roster to look moving forward.
Karnisovas was scheduled to talk before the game with the Nets tonight in Brooklyn.
