TORONTO — The night before he was traded to the Charlotte Hornets, Coby White couldn’t hide the fact that he was grappling with change.

As he spoke with reporters following a Chicago Bulls loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, White remained as taciturn as always about his future ahead of the trade deadline. He reiterated his commitment to the Bulls and his desire to remain in Chicago for the long term. He mourned the loss of Nikola Vučević and Kevin Huerter via trade only hours prior. But even as White squared his shoulders to assume the stalwart stance of the team’s leader, the frustration and exhaustion of the trade deadline won out.

“It’s part of the business, so we’re supposed to be robots about it, I guess,” White said, his voice adopting a sarcastic sharpness that cut through his otherwise level demeanor.

White didn’t know that he would be traded less than 24 hours later, sent to his home state to play for a Hornets team on the rise in the Eastern Conference. But he knew, of course, that his time with the Bulls could be nearing its end. Speculation and rumors dominated the ecosystem around the guard for months. And even if he wanted to stay, White also understood the positive potential of leaving Chicago for good.

That didn’t make any of this easier. White spent most of this season battling calf injuries that first cropped up during midsummer workouts and missed a total of 22 games. It took weeks for his shot to come back, for his fitness to catch up to the rest of the league. By that time, White was embroiled in trade talks that ultimately sparked his exit from the team. At the time of his trade, the guard was still averaging nearly three points below his career-high scoring production of 20.4 points per game from the prior season.

But despite that frustration, White’s feelings about the Bulls were the same at the end of his tenure as they were at the beginning: he just wanted Chicago to win.

Chicago Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu hugs Chicago Bulls guard Coby White after beating the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, at the United Center in Chicago. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

“I want this team to do nothing but succeed,” White said. “Whatever they feel is best for the team, you know what I’m saying? I just want to see everybody here win.”

When the Bulls traded White to the Hornets, they officially severed the final tie to the former administration under Gar Forman and John Paxson. White was the longest-tenured player on the roster, spending nearly seven years in Chicago since his draft day in 2019.

Those years were hard. The Bulls went 22-43 before his rookie season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. White weathered the firing of his general manager and coach, the introductions of Billy Donovan and Artūras Karnišovas, the passage of DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso and Zach LaVine and, now, Vučević. In the process, he found himself.

His growth came as the byproduct of scant success. White experienced only a single playoff run in 2022, a short-lived series against the Bucks. But those losses — and White’s relative ineffectiveness within them — served as a catalyst for the guard.

White set an intention after the 2021-22 season to better himself as a player and teammate, drilling his physique and ball handling in the offseason to transform into a well-rounded combo guard. It took two years, but that breakout finally came in the 2023-24 season, when the guard doubled his points and assists to finish second in Most Improved Player voting. By the time the Bulls traded LaVine last February, White felt fully ready to take the reins.

But White was never going to be The Guy in Chicago. Even in the midst of his MIP campaign, Bulls executives privately held the belief that he would always be a piece to build with, not around. The front office responded to that breakout season by immediately acquiring Josh Giddey and recalibrating their plans around the point guard. White was a constant, a touchstone, a captain. But he was never the future.

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After seven years of investment from both sides, the Bulls have to ask themselves what it all meant. White grew significantly in Chicago, from a promising scorer out of North Carolina to a genuine playmaker capable of anchoring a starting lineup. But for all that effort, the Bulls only managed a few second-round draft picks, Collin Sexton’s expiring contract and a flyer on 22-year-old forward Ousmane Dieng in their trade for White.

The front office heavily pursued a first-round draft pick in exchange for White, per a league source. That desire never came to fruition. The Bulls likely missed the hottest market on White last season, when he still had a year left on his most favorable contract, when his value hadn’t been tainted by the lingering uncertainty of his injury status. It’s unclear what they gained in return for that extra year with the guard.

Now, the Bulls face a roster missing an intangible asset: its leader.

For years, White held the Bulls together. He was hard on himself and kind to others. He pranked teammates during media days. He squared up when games got chippy. He raised his voice in a locker room often known for being quiet. In media interviews, he made time to praise each teammate by name. His booming laugh became a consistent soundtrack in the Bulls locker room.

For seven years, the Bulls had a heartbeat. It will take a long time to replace as the franchise digs into the messy, complicated work of a rebuild.

That’s not a reason to keep a player. Emotion can’t win on its own. But White’s devotion to the Bulls is something this team — and its fan base — will miss long after No. 0 has left Chicago.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/05/coby-white-chicago-bulls-trade/