Do Bulls moves mean they're close to a big deal?
The Bulls made a couple of moves Thursday that could clear the way to add another player.
They released shooting guard Sean Kilpatrick and rescinded the qualifying offer for small forward David Nwaba, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Removing the qualifying offer doesn't prevent Nwaba from re-signing with the Bulls, it just eliminates the team's right to match any offer he gets from another team.
Nwaba seemed to be a good fit for the rebuild. An undersized forward at 6-4, Nwaba made himself valuable with his high energy and became one of the team's better defensive players. He averaged 7.9 points and 4.7 rebounds last season.
Kilpatrick joined the Bulls on Mar. 26 after being released by the Los Angeles Clippers. In nine games, he averaged 15.4 points for the Bulls. Kilpatrick's contract was not guaranteed, so releasing him won't cost the team any money.
What's next is unclear. The Bulls can create roughly $21 million in cap space by also releasing Paul Zipser and newcomer Julyan Stone, who both have non-guaranteed deals.
There's no obvious free agent target still on the market. There has been speculation the Bulls could use their cap space to help facilitate a trade of Carmelo Anthony or Kawhi Leonard, adding some type of assets in return.
As it stands now, the Bulls have 14 players under contract - Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn, Lauri Markkanen, Justin Holiday, Robin Lopez, Omer Asik, Cameron Payne, Denzel Valentine, Bobby Portis, Cristiano Felicio, Zipser and Stone, along with rookie Wendell Carter Jr., and Chandler Hutchison. Antonio Blakeney signed a two-year, two-way deal last summer, so he's technically under contract for next season.
The summer league squad resumes play in Las Vegas on Saturday against Detroit at 3 p.m.
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls