Entering the 2023-24 season, there were plenty of question marks surrounding the Chicago Bulls and their chances of being a threat in the Eastern Conference. After all, it seems as though the Bulls' core of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic has run its course, what with all the locker-room discord the team had last season. And on Wednesday night, during the Bulls' season-opening loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Bulls' past demons appear to be haunting them once more.
The Bulls, despite hanging tough against the nascent Thunder for much of the night, collapsed late in the game en route to a 124-104 blowout defeat. And in the aftermath of their 20-point loss, head coach Billy Donovan reportedly entered the locker room with the players “already in heated conversations”, according to Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune.
Donovan then asked his players if they wanted him to leave the locker room so they could sort out whatever issues they have with each other on their own. The Bulls players, according to Poe, said yes, and Donovan left them accordingly.
Taking losses to heart isn't exactly a bad thing especially for a team with ambitions of being, at the very least, a playoff contender. But it's certainly concerning for the Bulls that they're already having these sorts of “heated conversations” after the first game of their season, especially when there were already instances in the past when they've gone through similar issues.
At this point, the Bulls aren't just putting out a dispiriting product on the court, they're also not in the most harmonious state off of it. So is it time for the Bulls to blow it up? Perhaps not, as the team didn't enter the 2023-24 season with the same core only to give up after the first game.
However, if the Bulls don't sort out their mess with much more urgency, then it may only be a matter of time before they fall off the pace in the Eastern Conference standings. And if they do, there may be wholesale changes to come for what has been one of the most lackluster outfits in the NBA for the past two seasons now.