The Latest Breaking News from Arturas Karnisovas

After a poor start to the season, the Bulls have been playing winning basketball the last 22 games. Will that be enough to keep the roster intact at the trade deadline Feb. 8?

There is still no uptick on the Zach LaVine trade market. And while the two-time All-Star has been playing well the last few games, the Bulls need a dance partner to emerge before the deadline Feb. 8.

Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan recently unveiled a new insight into the Zach LaVine trade rumor saga.

Hours before the Bulls handled Philadelphia — minus injured center Joel Embiid — the Knicks and Raptors made some ripples in the trade market with a huge swap. Meanwhile, all remained quiet on the LaVine trade front.

While the talks on a contract extension between DeRozan and the Bulls remained quiet, if the franchise is serious about reloading on the fly and not rebuilding, getting a deal done with DeRozan is a must.

All of those around DeRozan, including his agent, know not to bother him during the season with rumors and speculation. The forward’s mentality remains it’s “work time” and the rest will take care of itself.

A majority of the players that signed contracts over the summer will become eligible to be traded on Friday, but even so, the Bulls are finding a very dry market for a LaVine deal. Not the ideal scenario for VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas.

Victor Wembanyama was as good as advertised on Friday, but the short-handed Bulls again put on a scoring-by-committee effort with four of the five starters netting at least 20 points. Just don’t ask them if they’re better without LaVine.

While the rest of his teammates and coaching staff headed off to San Antonio on Thursday, LaVine met with reporters to discuss the latest on his foot injury and his future as a Bull.

If the Bulls do continue spinning in mud the rest of this season, they definitely picked a bad time to do it. Yes, Exec Arturas Karnisovas has control of the 2024 first-round draft pick, but it’s not the best year to hold that asset.

The team announced on Friday morning that LaVine would be sidelined at least another week with right foot soreness, but is that really a bad thing? There are growing signs that while the Bulls might not be better without the two-time All-Star guard, they definitely aren’t worse.