Top Candidate Emerges in Chicago Bulls' Front Office Search

The Chicago Bulls are entering a critical offseason, and change is coming from the top down. Just a few days into May, that first piece of the puzzle seems to be moving into place.

According to Chicago Sun-Times reporter Joe Cowley, the franchise is zeroing in on Timberwolves general manager Matt Lloyd to be the Bulls' next executive vice president of basketball operations.

"A source told the Sun-Times that although there was no clear-cut favorite for the job as of last Monday, Lloyd has taken the lead and could be named to the position in the next several days," Cowley wrote on Sunday. "That makes sense considering his long stint with the Bulls under former basketball operations chief John Paxson, who remains with the organization as an adviser and is said to be a strong Lloyd supporter."

Lloyd, who grew up in the nearby Chicago suburb of Bensenville, spent 13 years with the Bulls organization from 1999 to 2012. He began his tenure as a video coordinator before working his way into the scouting ranks. Paxson promoted Lloyd to Chicago's senior manager of basketball operations in 2003, then to the franchise's director of college scouting in 2007. Lloyd was then the assistant general manager of the Orlando Magic for a decade, prior to joining the Wolves in 2022.

Cowley also tabbed Celtics assistant general manager Dave Lewin as a candidate for the Bulls' general manager job. This would put him a step below Lloyd, similar to how the franchise ran before with Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley.

If Lloyd is hired as the Bulls' lead exec for basketball ops, he very well could bring one of the Timberwolves' assistants with him.

"According to a source with the Timberwolves, if [Lloyd] gets the Bulls job, he undoubtedly would make Micah Nori the new head coach, replacing Billy Donovan, who resigned April 21 after six seasons," Cowley said. "Nori has been the Timberwolves' lead assistant since 2021, was voted top assistant coach by NBA general managers the last two seasons and is considered a top defensive strategist in the league."

Nori, 52, has been in the running for several head coaching jobs over the last two cycles. He took over as the Wolves' on-court head coach in 2024 after Chris Finch suffered a patella injury, forcing him to take a seat for the remainder of the playoffs. That Timberwolves team eventually reached the first of two consecutive Western Conference Finals appearances.

The Lakers and Knicks interviewed Nori for their head coaching vacancies, but ended up hiring J.J. Redick in 2024 and Mike Brown in 2025 instead, respectively.

Minnesota defeated the Denver Nuggets in six games to advance to the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs, meaning the Bulls would likely be unable to hire Nori until the Wolves are eliminated.