Barack Obama at the
White House on February 26, 2009. The Bulls were having a meager year floating under .500 and on February 18, 2009 they made their first of several trades sending
Andrés Nocioni,
Drew Gooden,
Cedric Simmons,
Michael Ruffin to the
Sacramento Kings for
Brad Miller and
John Salmons. Then on February 19, 2009, the NBA trade deadline, the Bulls traded
Larry Hughes to the
New York Knicks for
Tim Thomas,
Jerome James, and
Anthony Roberson. Later that day the Bulls made the third trade in a span of less than 24 hours sending swingman
Thabo Sefolosha to the
Oklahoma City Thunder for a 2009 first round pick. The trades brought a late-season push for the Bulls, which finally clinched a playoff berth on April 10, 2009, their fourth in the last five years. Then on April 13, 2009 they clinched the 7th place in the east by beating the
Detroit Pistons and remained .5 game ahead of
Philadelphia 76ers for the 6th spot with one game remaining. The Bulls though lost their last game to
Toronto and the 76ers beat Cleveland, who did not play most of its best players. The Bulls finished 7th even though they tied
Philadelphia at 41-41. The Bulls got matched up with a
Garnett-less Boston in the first round of the playoffs.
Season standings Game log ==Playoffs==