Eyes on the Bulls roster.

It’s still too early for calls, but eyes from across the association are waiting to see which way this goes.

Will executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas steer the ship straight into the iceberg or can he lighten the load in time to avoid it and sail into the sunset that will be the Cooper Flagg draft?

According to a source, everything remains quiet on the trade front for the Bulls, as has been the case since late July. No surprise at this point in the campaign. But a growing opinion among other teams is that if Karnisovas can’t move one or more of the obvious big three pieces of Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic or Lonzo Ball, he could look to Ayo Dosunmu or Coby White either for draft -pick. assets individually or in a package.

That’s the tightrope Karnisovas is still trying to navigate.

In a perfect world, the Bulls’ top suit will want to showcase as much talent as possible for about 30-35 games before ensuring the roster remains in the bottom 10 for the draft lottery, while retaining the protected 2025 first-round draft pick. from the hands of Spurs.

If only LaVine and Ball were more cooperative.

Through no fault of their own, both are sidelined with injuries. LaVine missed his third straight game due to a strained adductor but was likely to play Saturday in Atlanta.

“They just want the tightness to be resolved,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said Thursday. “He’s definitely getting closer to playing.”

Don’t ball. The injured point guard sprained his right wrist against the Grizzlies last week, and if he had continued playing it could have gotten worse and led to surgery. Once he starts dribbling a basketball — which is still not on the schedule — the Bulls will have a better idea of ​​how long he will remain in street clothes.

Either way, it’s an abdominal exercise.

LaVine has three years and $138 million left on his contract, but Ball is in the final year of his contract and is making $21.4 million. LaVine would only become movable if a playoff-caliber team lost a top scorer, and even then, matching the money would be difficult.

A healthy ball coming off the bench for a play-off candidate, playing 18-20 minutes and doing so on an expiring contract? That’s an attractive piece. Unfortunately a piece that cannot keep running.

“Knock on wood, the knee has been good for him so far,” Donovan said. “I don’t know if I would classify him as ‘injury prone’. He definitely had injuries to his knee. That is well documented. This was a little more unique just because it was a contact injury. I have high hopes for him, because he doesn’t know at all what his role will be in the future. If he shows that he can play consistently in that role, there are great opportunities for him here or elsewhere.”

Vucevic is playing his best basketball as a Bull, but again, his value will be determined by a market shift due to the two years remaining on his contract.

That’s why White and Dosunmu could come into play. Both represent the next wave of talent developed following the 2021 rebuild, and both have very attractive contracts. White has two years left at just over $25 million total, while Dosunmu has two years left at $14.5 million.

LaVine moves up to $46 million next season and has a $49 million player option for the 2026-2027 season.

Someone has to go. The competition is watching.