Carter, Wagner and whatever Orlando gets at #11 for Vucevic....?
I do agree letting an asset walk for nothing is never smart business (unless the player is just irreparably toxic). If he signs a short-term deal around his prior AAV, that isn't a death sentence. It would still be a tradable contract moving forward. The bigger indictment would be to not try and unload LaVine. The trade kicker in his deal will make it interesting. He's just isn't a winning player. Somebody could be enticed by the scoring and the usage, who knows?
Their primary goal this offseason needs to be to regain some flexibility and rebuild draft assets. We're still going to owe a pick to San Antonio for DeMar, I believe. And we're likely not going to get that Portland pick conveyed anytime soon.
It's just another case of Murphy's law. AK took a gamble, and it just didn't work. Arguably, Vuc himself hasn't even been that bad, but the overall roster construction just didn't pan out. Ironically there have been even worse trades since then. Magic drafted well in Wagner, if they do so again at 11 you just gotta credit them for it. They could've just as easily drafted Ziaire Williams or someone like that in 2021 and then maybe it wouldn't look as bad.
Of course the first issue is building around Lavine as a franchise player, he is not that, but there's really only 10 or so players who are truly worth that title in the league, so that's not really his fault. Bulls could take a Sixers esque approach and tank until they draft a franchise level talent, but recent history is against them with that approach (ie the post Jimmy era Bulls couldn't ever win the lotto). They're paying for the wrong talent, but there hasn't really been a way to get that top tier talent in AK's tenure. They committed to attempting to be relevant, they succeeded for about 4 months and then everything exploded in the worst way.
The earliest that pick to the Spurs can convey is 2025 as they have lost their 2023 pick to the Magic. In theory if the Bulls did a full on tank for 5 years, they can keep that pick as it is top 10 protected in 2025 then top 8 protected for the next 2 years, turning into a 2028 2nd rounder at that point. Similarly the Portland pick is lotto protected until 2028. Bulls have both their picks in 2026 and their 1st in 2024 no matter what (I suppose they can trade that 2026 2nd, but usually 2nds are irrelevant for this franchise, they won't draft a Ginobili or something). So effectively, if the Bulls were to shift towards rebuilding in the draft, they can tank starting next season until 2028 and at the very least they'd keep their picks should they fall in pick 8 or higher.
Such a course will never happen though, even if AK committed to it, I'm sure he'd be out by 2026 even with whatever mystery extension he got if profits dip due to the tank. Jerry isn't going to want to be so irrelevant for 5+ years. Even after the dynasty it took them only 5 years to become relevant again.