Following the Los Angeles Lakers' exit in the first round of the playoffs, the front office explored trading for stars such as Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, DeMar DeRozan and Russell Westbrook. LeBron James setting up a war room of his own at his Brentwood estate for some in-person player meetings while leading remote communications in other conversations.

DeRozan took part in two meetings with James and also kept in touch via phone. DeRozan came away from the meetings believing he was the Lakers' priority, but as the process unfolded he was concerned about a perceived disconnect between the Lakers' stars and the front office. 

The group focused first on Lillard and Beal, but there was no viable path to trading for either of them considering their teams' asking prices. 

Rob Pelinka eventually locked in on a deal for Buddy Hield over a sign-and-trade for DeRozan before they shifted to a Westbrook trade. 

DeRozan eventually went to the Chicago Bulls in a sign-and-trade.

The Chicago Bulls have signed Daniel Oturu on a camp deal.

The Memphis Grizzlies waived Oturu last week.

Patrick Williams sustained a severe sprain of his left ankle during an optional individual workout on Sept. 15.

Williams is currently undergoing daily treatment and is anticipated to make a full return in 4-to-6 weeks.

Williams is entering his second season with the Chicago Bulls.

Ryan Arcidiacono has agreed to a training camp deal with the Boston Celtics.

Arcidiacono spent his first four NBA seasons with the Chicago Bulls.

Arcidiacono worked out for the Golden State Warriors this week. 

Zach LaVine is entering the final season of his current contract with the Chicago Bulls and he has publicly indicated that this season will be critical in determining the direction of the team.

"At the end of the day it's a business," LaVine told ESPN on Thursday. "They did what was best for the team and I will continue to go out there and do what's best for the team as well. This season going forward is going to be extremely crucial not just for me but for everybody. Winning would take care of everything."

LaVine said he'd outplayed his contract and he "wanted his respect" in hopes of getting a contract extension this offseason.

The Bulls would have had to use cap space to sign LaVine to an extension to boost his $19.5 million salary.

The Bulls and LaVine did have extension discussions before free agency but were unable to find common ground. Chicago instead used their cap space on Lonzo Ball, DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso.

"It showed they're all in to win and we're transforming the team to be competitive," said LaVine. "We have a whole new team ... we're going to hit the ground running. I was very happy with the offseason."

After not getting a new contract, LaVine left his old agents and signed with Rich Paul of Klutch Sports after the Olympics.

The Chicago Bulls have exercised the fourth-year option on guard Coby White, and third-year option on forward Patrick Williams.

By exercising their options, both players will be under contract with the Bulls for the 2022-23 season.

White appeared in 69 games (54 starts) in 2020-21 and averaged 15.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 31.2 minutes per game. In his sophomore campaign, he raised his rookie averages in points (+1.9), rebounds (+0.6) and assists (+2.1) while shooting .416 from the field, .359 from three and .901 from the free-throw line (6th in the NBA), also all increases from his first year. Last season, White led the Bulls in scoring nine times and in assists 22 times, and his 53 games with double-digit scoring were third-most on the team. As a rookie, White was named to the 2019-20 All-Rookie Second Team and was selected as the Kia NBA Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for games played in February. White was selected seventh overall by the Bulls in the 2019 NBA Draft.

Williams started all 71 games in which he played during his rookie season and averaged 9.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 27.9 minutes per game while shooting .483 from the field, .391 from three and .728 from the free throw line. He was named to the 2020-21 All-Rookie Second Team, and among all first-year players last season, he finished sixth in 3-point shooting, sixth in minutes per game and overall shooting, was tied for 10th in rebounding and tied for 12th in scoring. Williams was selected fourth-overall by the Bulls in the 2020 NBA Draft.

The New York Knicks had interest in pursuing DeMar DeRozan in free agency but they instead signed Evan Fournier.

The conventional wisdom was that Scott Perry influenced the decision to sign Fournier, but he was leaning toward the pursuit of DeRozan. Perry was with the Orlando Magic when they traded for Fournier in 2014.

DeRozan eventually joined the Chicago Bulls on a more lucrative contract than the Knicks signed Fournier to. DeRozan did have interest in the Knicks in free agency.

The Chicago Bulls continued to fill out their training camp roster by signing forward Tyler Cook. Cook signed a non-guaranteed deal to compete for a standard roster spot or the Bulls open Two-Way spot.

The 6'8'' forward has played for four teams in his two-year NBA career. Cook played for the Cleveland Cavaliers before finishing his rookie season with the Denver Nuggets. In his second year, Cook played for both the Brooklyn Nets and Detroit Pistons.

Cook has also played for three different G-League franchises. In the 2021 G-League bubble, Cook played for the Iowa Wolves. In eight games (all starts) in the bubble, Cook averaged 20.8 points, 9.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game.

The Chicago Bulls have signed wing Ethan Thompson to a training camp contract. Thompson is the latest in a spate of signings by Chicago over the last few days.

The 6'5'' wing will compete for a standard roster spot or for the Bulls open Two-Way spot during the preseason. Thompson averaged 8.6 points and 3.2 rebounds per game for Chicago during Summer League.

Thompson went undrafted out of Oregon State at the 2021 NBA Draft. He was a four-year starter for the Beavers, with 127 games played in four years. As a senior, Thompson averaged 15.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game.

Alize Johnson barely cleared waivers before agreeing to a new deal with the Chicago Bulls. Johnson was waived by the Brooklyn Nets two days ago. The waiver followed the Nets adding Paul Millsap, LaMarcus Aldridge and completing a 2-for-1 trade with the Detroit Pistons. The 6'7'' forward will sign a two-year contract for the veteran minimum worth $3.6 million with Chicago.

Johnson joins a Bulls team that had openings on the backend of their roster. Following a season of roster turnover, Chicago filled out their bench with Alize Johnson, Stanley Johnson and Matt Thomas in recent days.

After spending the first two seasons of his career with the Indiana Pacers, Johnson signed with Brooklyn midway through the 2020-21 season. Johnson averaged 5.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game in 18 appearances for the Nets. That included 20 points and 21 rebounds in a game against the Pacers.