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An amazing thing happened Thursday night at the Advocate Center.

And the Bulls traded All-Star guard Jimmy Butler too.

But before the Bulls completed what will go down as the biggest transaction of the 2017 NBA draft, they had to clear a significant philosophical hurdle that always had tripped them up in the past. They had to reach a consensus to rebuild the organization, which requires a new foundation and different blueprint. They had to agree to embark on a long-term project requiring patience for a franchise with an 81-year-old chairman, Jerry Reinsdorf.

“Jerry was involved every step of the way,” Bulls vice president John Paxson said.

The Bulls began by unloading Butler, their most valuable asset who had done all he could do in Chicago. Give credit to the kid from Tomball, Texas, who worked his way onto the NBA’s elite level, but the Bulls had gone as far as they were going to go with Butler as their best player. Over the last two seasons as Butler emerged as one of the league’s top 15 players, the Bulls were 83-81 and won zero playoff series. And the longer Butler remained a Bull, the closer the team came to investing as much as $230 million in his next contract beginning in 2019 under the designated-veteran exception — a factor not to be forgotten when putting Butler’s exit into context.

“This was necessary, something we felt we had to do at this time,” Paxson said.

Life without Butler will test the Bulls’ resolve, but it was time for them to start over, time for a risk-averse organization to take a risk. Finally, the Bulls established an unambiguous plan, stopped running in place and realized in pro sports taking two steps forward requires taking one step back. Finally, they were as decisive as they were daring in taking the best offer among others made by the Celtics and Nuggets and deserve credit for doing what they felt necessary to escape NBA purgatory known as the middle.

Trading an All-Star guard to the Timberwolves for three NBA up-and-comers — guards Kris Dunn and Zach LaVine and No. 7 pick Lauri Markkanen — represented a leap of faith for two Bulls executives who like to keep their feet on the ground. Paxson and general manager Gar Forman leaped anyway. They understood Butler’s value never was going to be higher, and perhaps they sensed the appetite for change among Bulls fans was as voracious as ever. Even if some of those fans expressed the belief that the Bulls should have received more in return for Butler, everybody will agree the organization can stop worrying about apathy. Nothing piques the interest of a fan base quite like a blockbuster trade.

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Look at White Sox fans. Reinsdorf teams now have traded stars Chris Sale and Jimmy Butler, and both deals were easy to justify. One day, history even might show that Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau, the man the Bulls fired two years ago, made Paxson and Forman look good after all. The deal gives the Bulls three skilled young players to develop and allows them to tailor a roster for the offensive style they seek to play under coach Fred Hoiberg — though the presence of Hoiberg played no role in trading Butler.

In the second round, the Bulls selected forward Jordan Bell out of Oregon but traded Bell to the Warriors for cash. How does a team that declares a rebuild in the first round sell a player worth developing?

What’s next for the Bulls roster? Veterans, beware. The future just took a double-digit lead over the present at the United Center, but at least the Bulls appear to have a game plan for winning.

It includes Dunn, LaVine and Markkanen, the most intriguing new Bull. Dunn, a 6-foot-4-inch guard the Bulls coveted before the 2016 draft, endured a disappointing rookie season after the Timberwolves selected him fifth. He struggled running an NBA offense and shooting. But Thibodeau often referred to him as “a special defensive player,” and Thibs knows one when he sees one. LaVine, who tore his ACL on Feb. 3, showed explosiveness in averaging 18.9 points before the injury. Just 22, LaVine also shot 38.7 percent from 3-point range, and Bulls brass felt good enough about the recovery of LaVine’s knee to make him the centerpiece of the trade.

Unless you consider Markkanen that guy. A skilled 3-point shooter at 7 feet whose finesse game has been compared favorably to fellow European Kristaps Porzingis, Markkanen gives the Bulls a perimeter threat to space the floor. According to a Sports Illustrated profile, Markkanen grew up in Jyvaskyla, Finland, shooting baskets four hours per day as a 10-year-old. Having just turned 20, Markkanen is too young to expect too much too soon, but his style ideally suits today’s 3-point-oriented NBA.

“It’s a historic organization I’m truly proud to be a part of,” Markkanen said of the Bulls during a teleconference.

If you had said a Chicago team was going to draft a promising Finnish prospect in the first round this weekend, the odds favored the Blackhawks. The Bulls getting Markkanen was a pleasant surprise — but not the biggest one on a seismic night for a team finally headed in a clear direction.

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Twitter @DavidHaugh

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