The Bulls finally have flexibility. Now they have to use it.

This is shaping up to be the most critical trade deadline of the Arturas Karnisovas era.

Since late last season, Karnisovas has been alluding to his flexibility plan, and to his credit, the team is positioned well.

The Bulls have seven players worth $90 million coming off the books at the end of the year. They don’t have many negative value contracts saddled on their books, and they have all their future first-round picks plus one more, a lottery-protected pick that turns into a second-rounder in 2028 from the Portland Trail Blazers.

For the first time in years, the Bulls have the flexibility they need to give themselves options. Now, they need to turn it into capital.

Option 1: 2026 Free Agency

As it stands, the Bulls have only eight players — Josh Giddey ($25 million), Patrick Williams ($18 million), Jalen Smith ($9.4 million), Tre Jones ($8 million), Matas Buzelis ($5.7 million), Noa Essengue ($5.7 million) and Julian Phillips ($2.4 million) — under contract for next season. They’ll have their own draft pick with a decently high cap hold as well, but theoretically, they could open up a maximum of nearly $75 million in cap space.

The list of 2026 free agents has thinned dramatically after Luka Doncic and De’Aaron Fox re-signed with their respective teams. Zach LaVine reunion, anyone? Only if he opts out of his $49 million player option. Trae Young? Same deal. Other than LeBron James and James Harden, there are no true needle movers, and even those two are well past the points in their careers where they can be the best player on a championship team.

More realistically, the Bulls could also throw bloated offer sheets at a restricted free agent like Jalen Duren, Mark Williams or Tari Eason. Those players would align with the Bulls timeline, but given that their incumbent teams would have matching rights, they’d have to overpay to pry them away.

Theoretically, the Bulls could wait it out until 2027 free agency to make similar moves then when players like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic and Anthony Davis can opt out of their deals to become free agents.

They can do so by signing the likes of Kevin Huerter, Zach Collins and even possibly Nikola Vucevic one-year deals, or even include a team option second year, to kick the can down the road a year.

However, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu represent roadblocks in that plan. Those two will almost certainly desire longer-term commitments, so even if the Bulls are able to sign their rotation players to one-year deals, keeping White and Dosunmu’s cap holds ($24.5 million and $14.3 million respectively) cut the Bulls offseason cap space down to roughly $40 million, less than 20 percent of the cap, before even accounting for the Bulls 2026 draft pick.

Moreover, that would put the Bulls in the same place they’re in now for another year: chasing the 10th seed, but this time with less flexibility.

Option 2: Exchange Flexibility for Assets

History has proven that the Bulls aren’t a free agent destination.

Since they don’t have enough draft capital to make meaningful improvements via trade, they should instead use leverage their expiring contracts to either improve their roster now or acquire draft picks by trading expiring contracts for longer-term ones.

One way to do that would be trading for Anthony Davis in a pre-agency move. The Bulls could help the Mavs by taking on Davis’ contract, which extends for two years, including a player option, beyond this one. They could offer expiring contracts to help the Mavericks get closer to getting out of the first apron, offer them some protected picks and set themselves up to compete at a higher level this year.

That trade made more sense before the Bulls went on a seven-game losing streak. Now, it’s probably better to retain assets and try to accumulate more.

The Bulls could do so by following the blueprint the Brooklyn Nets laid with their Cam Johnson-for-Michael Porter Jr. trade this summer. The Nets helped the Denver Nuggets shed nearly $17 million in payroll to take on Porter Jr., and acquired a juicy 2032 pick from Denver for the price of doing business. Not only do they add a pick to their stash at a time when Nikola Jokic will have declined if not retired, they may also now be able to get a pick by sending Porter Jr. to another team as he has rehabbed his value and is playing at a high level for the surprisingly surging Nets.

The Memphis Grizzlies are another perfect example — trading Desmond Bane allowed them to stay competitive while gaining picks. They were able to use one of those picks to move up in the draft for Cedric Coward and still have more that can unlock future moves.

Those types of deals are more common in the offseason, but since the Bulls are still $13.6 million below the luxury tax and have access to use their full mid-level exception ($14.1 million) as a trade exception, they could take on a good chunk of money to help teams out.

Take, for instance, the White trade to the Boston Celtics I suggested last week. Shipping out White and Jalen Smith for Anfernee Simons and picks would allow the Bulls to replace White and continue building their ‘young with experience’ core, while also stacking up some future picks. This helps Boston clear the first apron and get closer to dodging the luxury tax, while upgrading on the court this year.

If they wanted to take this a step further, the Bulls could take Sam Hauser into their mid-level trade exception in the same deal. They’d have to send back Julian Phillips and waive a player to create a roster spot, but this would get the Celtics out of the luxury tax altogether while staying under the tax themselves.

There are plenty of moves like this that would accomplish all the goals the Bulls should have at this deadline: solve the White free agency dilemma, maintain their desire to run through the finish line, and set themselves up with more assets for the future.

There’s no award for having the cleanest cap sheet. Flexibility isn’t inherently valuable, and it’s not something that needs to be hoarded. It’s only useful if it’s deployed.

Draft picks remain the primary currency in the NBA economy, but cap flexibility can function as currency, too — especially for teams willing to absorb money when others can’t. Right now, the Bulls are one of the few teams positioned to do that.

Neglecting to use that leverage would be yet another example of Karnisovas allocating nearly all of his resources and attention toward short-term competitiveness at the expense of the organization’s long-term health. We know he’s never going to commit fully to a rebuild, but there’s a wide spectrum between all-in on the present and total teardown. Why not invest 10, 25, even 50 percent of those resources into setting up the future? Ignoring that is like hoarding cash under the mattress instead of investing it in the market.

That’s the real urgency here, and the opportunity cost: this flexibility expires the moment these deals do. Once the deadline passes, the Bulls lose their best chance to turn expiring contracts into future value.

If the Bulls wait now and hope to strike later, they won’t just miss out on improving the roster; they’ll have forfeited another golden opportunity to reshape their future. This deadline doesn’t have to be about making a splash or even commiting to a full-scale rebuild, it’s about leveraging what little advantage they have and proving they can think more than one step ahead.