Getty Josh Richardson is set to be a free agent this summer.
The Chicago Bulls are in the midst of their longest losing streak of the 2022-23 season.
They have dropped six games in a row, often in horrendous fashion. Five of those six losses have come after the Bulls blew leads of 16 or more points, and their lack of offensive output has been beyond concerning. Over the six-game losing streak, Chicago had two games in which it scored just 89 points, one game where it finished with 91 points and another where the team topped out at 100 points. That’s not going to win many games in today’s NBA.
The NBA’s trade deadline has already come and gone, so it’s too late for the Bulls to make any moves other than scour the buyout market, which they have been doing. Some analysts are already looking forward to the coming summer, though, and Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale has one specific player he’d like Chicago to target after the regular season concludes.
B/R: Bulls Should Go After Josh Richardson This Summer
Favale thinks pending free agent guard Josh Richardson should be a target for the Bulls in the summer months. Last year, teams were free to begin negotiating with players on June 30, and that’s the date this year, as well. Considering Chicago’s lackluster offense of late, Favale pitched one potential free agent he believes might help facilitate more scoring.
“Josh Richardson is more of a cookie-cutter three-and-D contributor at this point. That’s perfect for Chicago,” Favale wrote on February 16. “You’d like to see his three-point accuracy tick up a bit (35.9 percent before getting traded to New Orleans), but he launches enough triples to stretch the floor and has the strength to tussle with opposing guards, many 3s and certain 4s.”
Favale is also under the impression several teams will be hot in pursuit of Richardson’s services.
“Winning the Richardson sweepstakes will be a challenge,” he wrote. “And yes, I said sweepstakes. So few serviceable, starting-level wings populate the market. The Bulls have a leg up on a large portion of the competition with the bigger MLE at their disposal, but they will be far from Richardson’s only suitors in that range.”
Richardson Would Bring Tenacious Defense to Bulls
Don’t try to inbound the ball on Josh Richardson 😅
Richardson was recently traded from the San Antonio Spurs to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Devonte’ Graham and four second-round picks. He’s on a one-year, $12.2 million deal and is slated to hit free agency in June.
The 29-year-old shooting guard is a stellar defender and a decent facilitator. So far this season (with the Spurs and Pelicans combined), he has played in 44 games (six starts), and is averaging 11.3 points, 1.1 steals, 3.2 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 23.9 minutes a game (stats via Basketball Reference).
After the trade deadline, Bulls vice president Arturas Karnišovas suggested change could be coming if the Bulls fail to make the playoffs, noting the remainder of the regular season would be a way to gauge the talent currently on his team’s roster.
“We’ve done deals that in the summertime that a lot of people said we couldn’t do. I think there are ways to improve it. It’s just the timing is going to depend on when you make those moves,” Karnišovas said, via NBC Sports. “This is just a collection of information, these next 28 games, of where we are.”
With 23 games remaining, Chicago is currently 26-33 entering the All-Star break, so unless something significant changes soon, it could be an eventful summer in the Windy City.