NBA Draft 2020: Top 3 options for Chicago Bulls to pick in 1st round

On Wednesday, the NBA announced its plan for a return to play featuring the top 22 teams in the league. This decision effectively ends 2019-2020 for the Chicago Bulls, meaning their focus can finally shift to the upcoming NBA draft.

During the league’s shutdown, the Chicago Bulls changed gears in their front office. They fired long-term general manager Gar Forman and hired Arturas Karnisovas to run the team’s Basketball Operations. Karnisovas, who comes from the Denver Nuggets, then hired Marc Eversley as general manager.

Karnisovas will have to make a decision about the future of current head coach Jim Boylen, who became the head coach in December 2018. Since then, Boylen has coached the Bulls to a 39-84 record as the team underperformed expectations this past season.

On the court, the Bulls have a few solid pieces to build around. Wendell Carter has been injury-prone in his first two seasons but has shown promise as a quality center. Lauri Markannen underperformed in year three, but considering he and Carter have missed a combined 105 games in the past two seasons, it would make sense for the Bulls to get a look at that pairing again when fully healthy.

Given all of that, it seems unlikely the Bulls will target a frontcourt player like James Wiseman, Onyeka Okongwu or Obi Toppin with their 2020 NBA Draft lottery pick.

In the backcourt, Zach Lavine was a borderline All-Star averaging a career-high 25.5 points per game. But Lavine’s offensive prowess could not will the Bulls into the playoffs. The team had a negative net rating with the former UCLA guard on the court.

Next to Lavine, rookie Coby White started to blossom down the stretch of the abbreviated regular season. The North Carolina native averaged over 20 points per game in the final month and a half and will get serious consideration for All-Rookie teams. White’s emergence makes him a cornerstone in the Bulls’ future plans so the Bulls should look to draft somebody that compliments him, as well as their young frontcourt pieces. Here’s a look at three players I think would make the most sense for the Bulls in the lottery.