Coby White says he figured he was 'next on the chopping block' in Chicago, thrilled to return home

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Coby White said he wasn't surprised when Chicago Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas informed him last week the team was trading him after seven seasons.

White said the writing was on the wall in Chicago after the Bulls dealt Nikola Vucevic and Kevin Huerter leading up to the NBA trade deadline. His name has also been subject to trade rumors for several weeks as well.

“I figured I was next on the chopping block,” White said.

The Bulls were heading in a different direction, making White expendable.

In what he viewed as a stroke of luck, he was dealt to the Hornets, bringing back home to North Carolina where he remains the all-time leading scorer in high school basketball history and also played one season for Tar Heels in college before being selected No. 7 overall in the 2019 NBA draft.

“He was happy for me that I get to go home,” White said of his conversation with Karnisovas.

White, who averaged 18.6 points and 4.7 assists this season for the Bulls, has yet to play for the Hornets while recovering from a calf strain. There is no timetable for his return, but White said he's on the mend.

Once he's ready to return, he'll likely to come off the bench in Charlotte with LaMelo Ball locked in as the starting point guard and budding young stars Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel rounding out the backcourt.

Given Ball's injury history, White could be a a valuable backup option for Charlotte.

The Hornets are one of the hottest teams in the league, taking a nine-game win streak into Monday night's game against the Detroit Pistons. White said he is thrilled to join a young team that appears on the rise and added that his new teammates have made him feel welcome.

White said this wasn't the first time his name had been circulated in trade rumors, but added this was first time he felt like it might actually happen.

“Every other time in my career I was kind of like, I don’t think was gonna really happen," White said. “But now just with the circumstances, you know, there’s a lot of us that are coming into free agency this summer. And the team had to kind of go in a direction, a certain direction. So, I really wasn’t surprised or anything like that.”

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