The Chicago Bulls are one of the most recognized franchises in NBA history. Led by Michael Jordan in the 1990s, this team elevated the NBA into the global brand that we have grown to know and love. They were the rockstars of that era and everywhere the franchise went, international fans flooded the streets just to see them. In fact, that continues to happen today when Michael Jordan showed up in Italy and turned Italian Bulls fans into goats.
Though not as successful these days as they were three decades ago, the Bulls are still one of the top destinations for prospective free agents looking to play in a big basketball market. The allure of the franchise isn't what it once was, but the city of Chicago is still a compelling place to call home. With that said, let's dig into the archives and check out the best free agent signings in Chicago Bulls franchise history.
10. Kyle Korver
Kyle Korver did not have the best years of his career as a Bulls player, but he did become a key piece during Chicago's best run since Michael Jordan ran the league. Korver signed with the Bulls during the summer of 2010 after spending three seasons with the Utah Jazz. He played all 82 games in his debut campaign in the Windy City and was the designated shooter off the bench for Chicago.
In that 2010-11 season, Derrick Rose became the youngest NBA MVP in league history as he led the Bulls to the best record in the Eastern Conference. Korver averaged 8.3 points and shot 41.5 percent from beyond the arc that season. One of Korver's most memorable moments as a Bull came during Game 1 of the 2011 NBA Playoffs. The sharpshooter knocked down the go-ahead triple that gave Chicago the lead after trailing for the majority of the contest.
Korver ended up playing just two seasons in Chicago, as he was later dealt in the summer of 2012 to the Atlanta Hawks for cash considerations. He ended up having the best years of his career in Atlanta, where in 2015, he made the lone All-Star appearance of his career.
9. Andres Nocioni
Remember this guy? Bulls fans certainly do. Andres Nocioni was one of the standouts from the 2004 Argentina Olympic gold medal team that took down the United States in the semi-finals. Chicago certainly took notice and signed the undrafted rookie to a deal. Nocioni made an immediate impact in his first season in the NBA and quickly gained recognition for his rugged defensive play.
By his second season, he became a double-digit scorer and was a vital piece off the bench for the Bulls throughout the late 2000s. He helped the team make three straight playoff appearances, which included a series sweep of the then-NBA champion Miami Heat in the 2007 NBA Playoffs.
8. Alex Caruso
Alex Caruso is a recent signee for the Bulls, but he already deserves a spot in this list of best Bulls free agent signings in franchise history. Chicago signed Caruso in the summer of 2021 to a bargain four-year, $37 million deal. The 27-year-old is one of the best perimeter defenders in the entire NBA and his presence helped anchor the Bulls as a top-five defense in the league during the 2022-23 regular season.
Chicago may not be winning nowadays, but that is in large part due to their struggles with injuries, specifically with Lonzo Ball. It's still worth wondering just what the ceiling of this Bulls team could have been had Ball stayed healthy. He along with Caruso wrecking havoc in the perimeter on the defensive end would be a nightmare for opposing offenses.
Caruso is about to enter his third season with the Bulls and has about two years and $19.4 million remaining on his deal. If the Bulls opt to blow it up, the Bald Mamba should be a prime trade target for several championship contending teams around the league.
7. Dwyane Wade
I get it, the Dwyane Wade experience really didn't turn into the greatest of runs for the Bulls. Wade ended up playing just one season in Chicago. In that lone campaign, the Hall of Famer averaged 18.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.8 assists. He was obviously no longer the dynamo scorer he was once with the Heat, but Wade still helped the Bulls make the playoffs that season.
Everybody thought it was weird to see D-Wade donning a different jersey other than the Miami Heat's. But Wade sporting the Bulls red wasn't that weird. Wade in a Cavaliers jersey is is a different story. That's in a whole different stratosphere of weird.
Regardless of how Bulls or NBA fans in general perceive Wade's move and overall tenure with the Bulls, the Chicago-native has always wanted to feel what it was like to represent his hometown team. For the most part, it was a feel-good, dream-come-true for Mr. Wade.
6. Rajon Rondo
Rajon Rondo signed with the Bulls the same season that Dwyane Wade did. Though they were no longer in their primes, their signings still made for an intriguing core in Chicago with the two joining All-Star Jimmy Butler. The Bulls just traded fan favorite and MVP Derrick Rose, emotionally ending the hometown kid's tenure with the franchise. A couple of weeks later, they signed Rondo to fill in the void at point guard.
Rondo spent the previous season with the Sacramento Kings, where he averaged 11.9 points and 11.7 assists. His regular season numbers went down to just 7.8 points and 6.7 assists in his first and only season with the Bulls. The Butler-Wade-Rondo experiment was on its way to becoming a disaster as they finished with a record of 41-41 and Chicago just snuck into the 2017 NBA Playoffs as the 8th seed.
But as soon as the playoffs turned up, the then-30-year-old point guard activated Playoff Rondo. Rondo looked like the vintage Celtics Rondo that went toe-to-toe with LeBron James for many years. He averaged 11.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 10.0 assists in Games 1 and 2 of their first round matchup against the Celtics, where the Bulls took homecourt advantage and won both games in Boston. At the time, it certainly looked like Chicago, led by Rondo's renaissance in the playoffs, would upset and sweep the top-seeded Celtics.
Unfortunately, Rondo suffered a broken thumb during Game 2 and was ruled out indefinitely. He missed the rest of the series and Chicago sorely missed his presence on the floor. The Bulls ended up losing four straight, putting this series as one of the more underrated “what ifs” in Bulls history. Chicago opted to blow it up and not to run it back as the organization waived Rondo, bought out Wade, and traded Butler that same summer.
5. Carlos Boozer
After spending six straight seasons with the Utah Jazz, Carlos Boozer went to the Chicago Bulls via a sign-and-trade deal in the summer of 2010. Boozer was no longer at his peak when he arrived in Chicago, but he still played a key role as the starting power forward of the Bulls' best team since the Michael Jordan era. He played just 59 games in his first season with the Bulls. However, the 6-foot-10 big man still averaged 17.5 points and 9.6 rebounds and was instumental in helping the Bulls finish with the best record in the Eastern Conference during the 2010-11 season.
Boozer's production in his second season in Chicago went down, but he played the entire 66-game campaign of the 2011-12 lockout season. He helped Chicago finish with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately, Derrick Rose's ACL injury happened and the Bulls never really saw their full potential as title contenders with the former league MVP becoming a shell of himself upon his return.
Boozer wound up playing four seasons with the Bulls and finished his tenure with averages 15.5 points and 9.0 rebounds.
4. Pau Gasol
Most NBA fans may remember Pau Gasol as a Los Angeles Laker, but his tenure with the Chicago Bulls was one of the more underrated, yet, best years of his career. Gasol signed with the Bulls during the 2014 offseason following a rather tumultuous last few years with the Hollywood team. The change of scenery revitalized Gasol's career and playing with an Eastern Conference contender extended the Spanish big man's prime.
Gasol wound up playing just two seasons in Chicago, but in both years, he made the All-Star team. After a couple of down seasons in his last two years in Los Angeles, the 7-foot big man averaged 18.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks in 78 games during the 2014-15 campaign. Those numbers earned him his second All-NBA Second Team nod. The following season, Gasol moved to become the team's starting center, where he still thrived with averages of 16.5 points, 11.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 2.0 blocks.
Gasol, however, made just one postseason appearance with the Bulls — in 2015, where they had LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers down 2-1 after Derrick Rose's epic buzzer-beating three-pointer in Game 3. But James retaliated the very next game with a game-winning shot of his own as the Cavs ended up winning the series in six. Gasol wasn't healthy in that series, either, as he missed Games 4 and 5. The Hall of Famer's presence could have certainly changed the outcome of those games and the series.
3. Ron Harper
After the shocking retirement of Michael Jordan in the summer of '93, the Bulls moved to revamp mode. They signed a perennial 18 to 20 point scorer in Ron Harper in the 1994 offseason. After averaging over 20 points per game in his final year with the Los Angeles Clippers, the 6-foot-6 guard's production dropped to a then-career-low 6.9 points per game in his first season in Chicago. Nonetheless, Harper immediately found his niche with the team when Jordan made his return in 1995.
In his first full season with His Airness, Harper transitioned into the team's starting point guard. He revamped his game as a big perimeter guard who bothered smaller players with his size. In the three championship years with the Bulls, Harper averaged 7.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.7 assists. He was also an ironman throughout that run, as well, as he ended up missing just six out of a possible 246 games.
Harper didn't have his best individual seasons in Chicago, but he enjoyed the most team success of his career as part of the Bulls dynasty of the 1990's.
2. Steve Kerr
Steve Kerr is now one of the most accomplished figures in the history of basketball. Before he led the Golden State Warriors to four NBA championships, Kerr was a highly-accomplished player in the NBA. The 6-foot-3 guard was never a star in the league, but he was a respected role player for all the teams he played for. Perhaps his most memorable run, however, came with the Chicago Bulls.
Kerr signed with the Bulls in the 1993 offseason, the same year Michael Jordan announced his first retirement. Even though he had his fair share of run ins with Jordan, the former Arizona Wildcat became a key piece off the bench for Chicago as a designated shooter.
As most NBA historians would know, Kerr is also responsible for draining one of the most iconic shots in Bulls history. With the game knotted at 86 in Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals, Michael Jordan drew the double team from John Stockton and found an open Kerr at the top of the key. Kerr fired and swished the go-ahead basket to clinch the 1997 NBA Championship.
As a Bull, Kerr won three straight NBA championships and later won two more as a player with the San Antonio Spurs. That puts his total tally of rings at nine — including the four with Golden State.
1. DeMar DeRozan
As great of a city Chicago is, DeMar DeRozan is perhaps the biggest star player who is still in his prime to choose the Bulls as his free agency destination. DeRozan arrived in Chicago as part of a sign-and-trade deal with the San Antonio Spurs in the 2021 offseason.
The 6-foot-6 wing made an immediate impact upon arriving in the Windy City. Led by DeRozan's scoring and veteran leadership, the Bulls stormed out of the gates to open the 2021-22 campaign. At one point, they were the first seed in the Eastern Conference with a stellar 26-10 record, which included a nine-game winning streak. DeRozan earned his fifth selection as well as his third start in the All-Star Game in 2022. He also made the All-NBA Second Team off a career-high average of 27.9 points to go along with 5.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists, while shooting 50.4 percent from the field.
Unfortunately, injuries, particularly with Lonzo Ball who anchored the team's defense, befell Chicago and they dropped in the standings. Without Ball through the entirety of the 2022-23 season, Chicago missed the postseason. Nonetheless, DeRozan was still voted in by the coaches as an All-Star, earning the sixth selection of his career. He ended the 2022-23 campaign with averages of 24.5 points on 50.4 percent shooting.
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