If a 20-game sample size is enough to shape the Chicago Bulls’ future, then executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas already has his answer. He just might not like it.
Last season, Karnisovas leaned heavily on a 20-game stretch — a 15–5 finish — to justify running it back. That small window convinced him that continuity, plus a light tweak or two, could elevate the Bulls out of mediocrity. It was the logic behind another offseason of half-measures and cautious optimism.
Fast forward to now, and the latest 20-game sample size is screaming something very different.
The Bulls are 5–15 over their last 20 games.
Not unlucky. Not trending upward. Just bad.
For a brief moment, there was hope. Friday’s win in Charlotte snapped a seven-game losing streak and created the illusion that the Bulls had finally steadied themselves. Not greatness — no one expected the early-season 6–1 surge to return — but competence. Sustainability. A baseline that suggested the season hadn’t slipped away entirely.
“It just gives you a confidence boost,” center Nikola Vučević said afterward. “When you’re losing, you hesitate and overthink stuff a little bit. When you win a game, it kind of takes some weight off your shoulders.”
That weight didn’t stay off long.
Forty-eight hours later, Chicago flushed that momentum straight down the toilet, losing to a five-win New Orleans Pelicans team — for the second time in less than three weeks. Any lingering belief that the Bulls were turning a corner evaporated instantly.
And that’s where Karnisovas’ own logic turns against him.
If 20 games were enough to justify continuity last year, then when does demolition start now? Because the current evidence is overwhelming. This 5–15 stretch didn’t come against title contenders. It came against the Pacers, Hornets, Pelicans — with the Nets, Jazz, and Wizards sprinkled in. Arguably, the easiest portion of the schedule. Over the last 10 games of that stretch, the Bulls went 2–8.
This isn’t bad luck. This is identity.
So what’s the fix? It isn’t complicated. It doesn’t require spreadsheets, buzzwords, or another press conference about “competitive integrity.” This is a teardown. A sledgehammer job. Goggles on. Swing hard.
The problem is that the architect of this condemned shack still seems to believe he’s looking at the bones of a mansion.
The Bulls don’t have a true All-Star. They rely on “the collective,” a phrase that has become organizational gospel. Anyone who challenges that belief risks having their belongings placed in a cardboard box by the loading dock. The front office insists the team is competitive.
What they really have is a front office that doesn’t understand roster construction in the modern NBA.
Here are the hard truths Karnisovas must confront: Chicago is not a premier free-agent destination. The franchise does not carry elite league-wide credibility. Years of mediocrity, instability, and unclear direction have lowered expectations — and ironically, that makes this market uniquely suited for a rebuild. If there is any major sports city that would embrace tearing it down properly, this is it.
Take all of that information, mix it together, and there is only one rational conclusion for a clear-minded NBA executive:
Tank.
Not because players want to lose — they don’t. Not because head coach Billy Donovan is waving the white flag — he isn’t.
“As a coach, when you’re going through every single game, all you’re thinking about is how do we compete, how do we win?” Donovan said. “I don’t think telling a guy to just play through mistakes without accountability is a great developmental plan.”
This isn’t on Donovan. It’s not on the locker room.
This is about one person: Arturas Karnisovas.
Between now and the February 5 trade deadline, his best friend should be his phone. Every call not made is another week wasted. Every delay is another step deeper into embarrassment and irrelevance. If Karnisovas chooses any direction other than teardown, the next cardboard box by the loading dock shouldn’t belong to a player — it should belong to him.
Even Bulls legend Derrick Rose sees it.
“I don’t believe in intentionally losing,” Rose said. “But when you look at the Bulls’ last 20 games, the numbers are saying something that’s hard to deny. When decisions stop prioritizing winning, when development outweighs results, people are going to ask questions. In Chicago, we played with pride — and if you lose that, the statistics expose the truth before anyone dares to say it.”
The truth is already out.
Twenty games. One message.
If this is the standard Karnisovas trusts, then the Bulls aren’t rebuilding fast enough. They’re just stalling — and the numbers are done lying for them.
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