Paul Sullivan: As Bulls’ top executive decision gets closer, a former employee becomes the front-runner

CHICAGO — Minnesota Timberwolves general manager Matt Lloyd is hopefully adept at multitasking. While preparing for the second-round NBA playoffs matchup with the San Antonio Spurs, he’s also keeping an eye on the Chicago Bulls’ front office vacancy, where he’s reportedly one of the finalists, and perhaps the favorite. League sources informed the Chicago Tribune’s Bulls writer, Julia Poe, that Lloyd remains a “strong front-runner” for the top executive job in the Bulls front office, in a small pool of executive talent that includes Atlanta Hawks vice president of basketball operations Bryson Graham.

If he ends up taking over for the departed Artūras Karnišovas, Lloyd’s pro basketball career would come full circle. He’s a lifelong Bulls fan from Fenton High School who began on the West Side in 1994 with a part-time job in the team’s video department, and, according to The Athletic, used to call his grandmother during Michael Jordan’s player introductions to let her hear the crowd’s roar. The current edition of the Bulls is a far cry from the Jordan days, but that’s why the Bulls are looking for someone with Lloyd’s credentials to help restore the glory missing for nearly three decades.

Who knows where Lloyd’s career would’ve gone if not for John Paxson? The former Bulls star and top executive promoted Lloyd from media services coordinator to director of college scouting as soon as he replaced Jerry Krause as GM in 2003. It was a risk that turned out well.

Lloyd was part of the decision-making process that led to the Bulls selecting Jimmy Butler with the 30th pick of the 2011 draft, perhaps the best “sleeper” pick in franchise history. Paxson, currently the senior advisor of basketball operations after moving upstairs when Karnišovas came on board in 2020, is working alongside president Michael Reinsdorf in the search process. Interviewing someone whom he helped climb the NBA ladder figures to have been smooth sailing.