The Chicago Bulls have lost a national broadcast.
The NBA announced on Thursday that the Bulls’ matchup with the 76ers on Jan. 6 has been flexed off the network. Moving into that time slot will be a matchup between the New Orleans Pelicans and Brooklyn Nets.
Considering the fact that New Orleans is at the top of the West and Brooklyn recently passed Milwaukee as the East’s second in command, I can understand the appeal of getting that game in front of as many eyeballs as possible. Not to mention, between Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Ben Simmons … the star power is plentiful.
Meanwhile, the Bulls continue to sit at an underwhelming 15-19 and still have yet to beat Joel Embiid once over the course of his career. The battle between those two may have been an exciting 5-point game the last time they met on Oct. 29, but exciting enough not to give Pelicans-Nets the spotlight? Eh.
At the end of the day, the flex-out is just another reminder of how quickly this team has fallen off the deep end. I remember heading into this year excited about how much more national respect this group could get, but even I can’t deny that this is the right move by the NBA. *sigh*