The Chicago Bulls fired executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas and general manager Marc Eversley, the team announced Monday.
The Bulls missed the playoffs in five of the six seasons with Karnišovas and Eversley at the helm, going 224-254 in the regular season over that span. They’re currently 12th in the Eastern Conference with a 29-49 record after trading away the bulk of the roster at the deadline.
“I want our fans to know that I hear you and understand your frustration,” Bulls President and CEO Michael Reinsdorf said in a statement. “I feel it as well. I know this will take time, and I am fully committed to getting this right.
“At the Chicago Bulls, our focus remains on building a team that can compete at the highest level and ultimately contend for championships. We are committed to taking the necessary steps to move the Bulls forward in a way that makes our fans proud.”
Bulls general manager Marc Eversley poses during the team’s inaugural Ring of Honor gala Jan. 11, 2024, at the United Center. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Early in their tenure, Karnišovas and Eversley appeared to be building a functional foundation in Chicago. They made a series of aggressive moves to assemble a 2021-22 roster anchored around Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vučević with support from Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso. That team established an up-tempo style that brought quick results, taking the Bulls to the top of the Eastern Conference by January.
Just as quickly, that short streak of success crumbled. Injuries to Ball and Caruso sapped the team’s effectiveness on both ends of the court. The Bulls finished sixth in the East, then lost a first-round playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks in five games. They haven’t returned to the playoffs since.
When that initial project failed, Karnišovas seemed to freeze. The front office didn’t make a single in-season trade for three consecutive years, clinging to the specter of “competitiveness” while sticking with the core of the roster. That stubbornness led to three consecutive season-ending losses to the Miami Heat in the play-in tournament.
After parting with Caruso and DeRozan in the summer of 2024 and trading LaVine at the deadline in February 2025, the front office finally changed direction at this year’s deadline — a shift made at the behest of ownership, according to league sources.
Karnišovas traded or waived eight players, including key players Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Vučević, in an attempt to recoup assets for the soon-to-be free agents while improving the team’s position in the draft lottery. But even those moves were made too late, leaving the Bulls out of the postseason while stuck in ninth place in the lottery order.
Throughout these seasons of mediocrity, the Bulls struggled to acquire talent through the draft. Karnišovas drafted seven players during his six seasons in Chicago. Four of them — Dosunmu, Dalen Terry, Julian Phillips and Marko Simonović — are no longer on the roster.
The highest pick he made — Patrick Williams at No. 4 in 2020 — is averaging 6.6 points in less than 20 minutes per game in his sixth season. While the team found some momentum in 2024 No. 11 pick Matas Buzelis, this inconsistency in talent acquisition was a key sticking point for the Karnišovas regime.
Monday’s firings notably occurred after a weeklong debacle involving the release of guard Jaden Ivey, a trade-deadline acquisition whom Karnišovas had hoped to retain in restricted free agency. The Bulls waived Ivey after a series of erratic rants on social media that included derogatory language toward Catholics, the LGBTQ community and fellow NBA players. The decision to waive Ivey was prompted by ownership, according to a source.
With Karnišovas and Eversley removed, Bulls ownership now must turn its attention to a slew of upcoming challenges: retaining coach Billy Donovan, hiring front-office replacements and determining a new direction for the franchise.