Four months after the Chicago Bulls cut him loose following a 31-win season, Artūras Karnišovas is back in the league. Not running a team, but helping Adam Silver build one from scratch.
Karnišovas, the former Bulls executive VP of basketball operations, has been brought on by the NBA commissioner to work on NBA Europe, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic. His job? A little bit of everything. Rules and governance. Recruiting. Creating pathways for European players to reach the NBA. Youth development. And serving as a bridge between the league and its planned European offshoot.
It’s a curious move for a guy whose most recent NBA work speaks for itself. In six seasons with the Bulls, Karnišovas managed exactly one playoff appearance. That was 2022, and it ended in five games. His teams never won 40 games in a season. By the time Chicago fired him in April, the roster was stuck in mediocrity with no clear way out.
But Silver isn’t hiring him to fix the Bulls. He’s hiring him for what he did before Chicago.
What Karnišovas Actually Brings to the Table
Before the Bulls tenure turned into a mess, Karnišovas built a real reputation in the league. He worked in the NBA’s basketball operations office from 2003 to 2008. Then he scouted internationally for the Houston Rockets. In 2013, he became assistant general manager for the Denver Nuggets.
And yeah, he’s the guy who helped Denver land Nikola Jokić. That alone gives him credibility overseas that most front office guys don’t have.
Karnišovas is also a former player. He won two Olympic gold medals with Lithuania in 1992 and 1996. He played professionally in Lithuania, Spain, Greece and Italy. The guy knows European basketball. He knows the people, the leagues, the politics. That matters when you’re trying to launch a 16-team league across the continent.
The NBA Europe Plan Is Moving Fast
The league is targeting an October 2027 launch. That’s not that far away. The plan includes 12 permanent franchises and four spots that teams can qualify for. The NBA would own 50% of the league.
The cities being considered read like a Eurotrip bucket list: London, Paris, Barcelona, Milan, Munich, Berlin, Madrid, Lyon, Istanbul and Athens. That’s a lot of travel. A lot of logistics. A lot of egos to manage.
Karnišovas will be Silver’s guy on the ground for all of it. Or at least a key part of the operation.
Meanwhile, the Bulls have moved on. They hired Bryson Graham as their new VP of basketball operations back in May. Graham walked into a roster that still doesn’t have a clear direction. But that’s Chicago’s problem now.
Karnišovas has a different one. He has to help turn NBA Europe from a concept into something that actually works. And he has to do it while carrying a resume that includes one of the most underwhelming front office runs in recent memory.
Silver is betting the international piece matters more than the Chicago piece. We’ll find out soon enough.
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