Report: Chicago Bulls sign-and-trade guard DeMar DeRozan to Sacramento

Artūras Karnišovas talks NBA Draft, impending changes with the Chicago Bulls

Chicago Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas didn't plan on drafting a Lithuanian-descent basketball player Wednesday. But, it happened. He spoke about the pick and more Wednesday night.

DeMar DeRozan has officially played his last game as a Chicago Bull.

DeRozan was traded from Chicago to Sacramento as part of a sign-and-trade deal that includes three teams, according to reports.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported DeRozan will go to Sacramento in exchange for Chris Duarte and two second-round picks. Kings' forward Harrison Barnes will head to San Antonio, and the two teams will swap a 2031 draft pick.

DeRozan's deal with the Kings is for three-years and $74 million, Wojnarowski reports.

The Bulls had publicly said their hope was to retain DeRozan, who was an unrestricted free agent this summer.

"We're going to look at everything, everything is on the table," Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas said when asked if the Bulls are confident they could re-sign DeRozan. "It's still an option."

Reports emerged last week DeRozan was looking to move on after the Bulls began adding younger players, clearly shifting their focus on getting younger.

Duarte fits that direction.

The biggest return the Bulls get is Duarte, a shooting guard who has shot 34.7 percent from 3-point range in his NBA career. The 27-year-old Oregon product was the 13th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers.

Duarte averaged 10.7 points per game across his two seasons in Indiana. In July 2023, he was traded to Sacramento for two future second-round picks.

DeRozan's move signals a massive shift within the Bulls, and the big three the team put together of DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic wasn't good enough.

The front office promised change, and change has now hit Chicago in the most significant way.

What now remains to be seen is if the Bulls move on from Vucevic and LaVine as well. That would signal a full-scale rebuild.

However, it wasn't for a lack of production on DeRozan's part that the team was bounced from the NBA Play-In Tournament for the second year in a row.

DeRozan led the league in total minutes played in the 2023-2024 season and averaged 24 points and 5.3 assists per game at 34-years-old. He finished second in voting for the NBA's Clutch Player of the Year Award, which he arguably should have won.

His time in Chicago was punctuated by two NBA All-Star appearances, an All-NBA honor and a 41-point performance in the only playoff win the Bulls have had in the last seven seasons.

If there was a big moment across the past three seasons in Chicago, DeRozan most likely had a hand in the success.

This was a point where the Bulls would know more about what the 2024-2025 team would look like. Karnišovas stressed he would be able to say more once the team knew which players were going to be available in free agency.

As of now, the Bulls have only reportedly added center Jalen Smith in free agency. Any more additions remain to be seen with a free agency pool that's rapidly shrinking and lacks star power.

"We'll have more information and we'll be able to see what we look like as a team," Karnišovas said of the free agency period.