The Chicago Bulls are expected to be an active team during the NBA offseason as they desperately need to make some changes to start trending in the right direction. The Bulls have some solid pieces, but they have been stuck for the past few years. They aren't good enough to compete for titles, but they aren't bad enough enough to get in position for franchise-changing draft pick. So, in order to leave this middleground area, Chicago needs to make some trades.

There have been a lot of trade rumors surrounding the Bulls lately, and that makes GM Marc Eversley's comments on Thursday morning even more puzzling. Eversley discussed the team's offseason plans, and he listed off players that are “coming back” to the team. Nikola Vucevic, who is an obvious trade candidate, is one the players that Eversley listed.

“I would look at how we end the season this past year, 15-5 down the stretch,” Eversley said, according to a post from Elias Schuster. “Obviously, a bitter loss in the Play-In game. But the players who played in that game, Giddey, White, Huerter, Matas, Vooch [Nikola Vucevic], those guys all logged big minutes. Those guys are all coming back. They're all going to be with us. Now, we layer in guys like Patrick Williams, Jalen Smith, Ayo. Dosunmu is coming back from injury, Zach Collins as nice addition at the trade deadline.”

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That definitely isn't what Bulls fans were expecting to hear the day after the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft. The Bulls are expected to make multiple trades this offseason, and guys like Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Nikola Vucevic have all been named as likely suitors. At the very least, it would be very surprising to see Vucevic in a Bulls uniform next year. However, you never know what this front office is going to do.

Chicago did end up engaging in a trade on Thursday, but there weren't any players involved. The Bulls were originally in possession of the 45th overall pick, and they traded it to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for the 55th overall pick and cash. There is a chance that the Bulls make another trade as Marc Eversley noted on Wednesday that team might trade out of the second round entirely. If they do keep the 55th pick, look for Chicago to go the draft-and-stash route. The Bulls are clearly satisfied with just the Noa Essengue pick.

Day two of the 2025 NBA Draft will get underway on Thursday at 8 ET from the Barclays Center in New York.