Bulls Scouts Reportedly Wanted to Draft Tyrese Haliburton in 2020

Chicago's front office tandem of Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley was disastrous by most measures. The Bulls — once an international brand — fell into mediocrity and showed almost no sense of direction until the fire sale at the trade deadline.

There were many issues with the front office under Karnisovas and Eversley, whether that's the mismanagement of valuable roster assets, the three years without making a trade or the refusal to enter a much-needed rebuild. However, there may not be an event that encapsulates the Karnisovas-Eversley regime more than the Patrick Williams saga.

When the Bulls landed the No. 4 overall draft pick in 2020, it marked the first time that Chicago had climbed in the NBA Draft Lottery since selecting Derrick Rose with the first pick in 2008. The recently-hired Karnisovas and Eversley decided to take Florida State forward Patrick Williams with their inaugural draft choice as a duo, and the rest is history.

The Williams pick is widely regarded as one of the biggest debacles in recent Bulls memory, especially because of the talent that was drafted behind him. According to a new report from the Chicago Sun-Times' Joe Cowley, several other members of the Bulls' front office actually wanted a different player, whose career trajectory has looked quite different from Williams'.

"Holding No. 4, Karnisovas settled on Patrick Williams," Cowley wrote on Wednesday. "There were multiple scouts and other personnel in the draft room, however, that wanted Tyrese Haliburton. Now, the entire draft process was messed up because of Covid, but Karnisovas specifically was not only fixated on Williams, but didn’t even consider Haliburton a serious prospect."

Haliburton ended up going No. 12 overall to the Kings before blossoming into the player he is today with the Indiana Pacers. The two-time All-Star has been one of the best players in the league and was named to the All-NBA Third Team in 2024 and 2025.

Last season, Haliburton led the Pacers to the NBA Finals with a series of miraculous late-game shots before tearing his Achilles in Game 7 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Across three-plus years in Indiana, Haliburton has averaged 19.5 points, 10.1 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game.

"The source indicated that Karnisovas didn’t even feel like Haliburton would be a top four talent on the Bulls roster at the time," Cowley added.

Contrast that to Williams, who was a decent rotational player over his first few seasons, but far from the franchise-changing superstar a team would hope to draft with a top-four pick. Karnisovas and Eversley decided to reward Williams' 2023-24 season — in which he averaged 10.0 points per game on 44.3% shooting and 39.9% from deep — with a five-year contract extension worth $90 million.

That deal handicapped the Bulls when they were trying to contend, and it's handicapping them as they enter a rebuild now. Williams' future in Chicago is in doubt following a career-worst season.

Notable players selected behind Williams in 2020 include All-Star Deni Avdija, All-Star Tyrese Maxey, Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard, All-Defense team member Jaden McDaniels and Desmond Bane.