Bulls Will Give Qualifying Offer to Denzel Valentine, But NOT Kris Dunn

The Chicago Bulls front office has made its first roster decision.

According to The Athletic’s Darnell Mayberry, the organization will extend a $4.7 million qualifying offer to 2016 first-round pick Denzel Valentine.

And, simultaneously, they have decided NOT to extend an offer to Kris Dunn, per NBC Sports Chicago’s K.C. Johnson.

Surprised? I’m not sure you should be. The decision not to retain Dunn has been on the horizon for a while.

Because while he put together a breakout defensive performance in 2019-20, he doesn’t necessarily fit with where the Bulls are at in their competitive cycle – all-defense, no-offense guys like Dunn can be more of a luxury than a need (which is why a franchise like the Clippers reportedly have interest). Chicago has only a couple of roster spots at their disposal, and Arturas Karnisovas may well believe he can fill Dunn’s spot with a player that (1) helps the team in a more substantial way and/or (2) comes at a cheaper price. Speaking of which, Dunn would’ve been expensive.

Heading into this offseason, the Bulls could have extended a qualifying offer to Dunn, Valentine (more on him in a second), and Shaquille Harrison (TBD). Dunn, however, was the priciest player to retain, as his QO bumped up from $4.6 million to $7.1 million. That’s a hefty price tag for someone who appears to be a specialist in an already stuffed backcourt.

Moving onto the second half of the news … Valentine gets his QO, and people are surprised:

I certainly understand the frustration to keep Valentine and move on from Dunn, but I also fail to find it all that shocking (we’ve discussed this possibility twice before).

Valentine is one of the team’s more consistent 3-point threats, and he happens to possess the best all-around skill set out of the three players who are up for qualifying offers. The Bulls also have had rumored interest in adding another facilitating guard into the mix for weeks now, so opting to keep a player that promotes more ball movement over a defense menace fits what appears to be the team’s current philosophy. Also, for what it’s worth, I think someone like Valentine could be put to pretty good use under Donovan.

Sure, someone could argue that Valentine could have been kept around on a smaller deal, but I guess this franchise didn’t want to risk losing him. He has maintained health for a good period of time now, and perhaps he showed promise to the front office during the mini-camp.

At the end of the day, Dunn probably didn’t have a long-term future in Chicago, anyway. I’m bummed to see him go after a breakout campaign, but it’s just part of the change we have to come to expect under this new front office.

(Photo by Getty Images)

written by

Elias Schuster is the Lead Chicago Bulls writer at Bleacher Nation. He started with BN full-time in 2019 immediately after graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign with a degree in Journalism (yes, he started with the Jim Boylen Era). Since joining, Elias has been the driving force behind Bulls and NBA content for both the site and social accounts. You can follow him on Twitter/X @Schuster_Elias.

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