In 2022-23, the Chicago Bulls went 40-42, finished 10th in the East and were eliminated by the Miami Heat in the Play-In Tournament.
In 2023-24, the Chicago Bulls went 39-43, finished ninth in the East and were eliminated by the Miami Heat in the Play-In Tournament.
In 2024-25, the Chicago Bulls went 39-43, finished ninth in the East and were eliminated by the Miami Heat in the Play-In Tournament.
Does this look like a team that is making progress? Does this look like a team that even has designs on escaping mediocrity in the next few years? Not really! According to Bulls executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas, though, they have a plan and are executing it.
“I think we are on the right path,” Karnišovas told reporters at the end of the season.
It was a hell of a thing to say a year after telling many of those same reporters, “I’m not here to stay in the middle.” To hear Karnišovas tell it, though, this was not remotely the same situation. Yes, Chicago was still in the middle, but it wound up there despite having traded veterans DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Alex Caruso. The Bulls drastically changed their style of play and shot profile, targeted “young players with experience” and saw enough internal development for the front office to be encouraged about the direction of the team. Going into 2025-26, though, the burden is on the Bulls to show that this whole thing isn’t hopeless. They seem dead set against bottoming out, but if the new, younger “core” — Matas Buzelis, Josh Giddey and Coby White — doesn’t have a higher ceiling than the previous one, then they’re just spinning their wheels.
The state of play
Last year: Four months in, Chicago was 22-35 and ranked 22nd offensively, 27th defensively and 24th in net rating. In the last seven weeks of the regular season, it went 17-8 and ranked 12th offensively, 12th defensively and 8th in net rating, but many of those wins came against opponents that were tanking or injured. Buzelis established himself as the Bulls’ most exciting prospect in years, Patrick Williams had the worst season of his career (after signing a five-year, $90 million extension), Lonzo Ball made his long-awaited comeback (and earned a two-year, $20 million extension) and Giddey finished the season strong (until the play-in loss against Miami). Before they traded LaVine, the former All-Star guard was more efficient than ever individually, but the return (their own 2025 pick, Kevin Huerter, Tre Jones, Zach Collins) was only OK. Nikola Vučević was more efficient than ever, too, but the former All-Star center didn’t command trade offers good enough for them to move him.
The offseason: The Bulls drafted Noa Essengue, an 18-year-old French big man, with the No. 12 pick. They re-signed Jones (three years, $24 million, team option), traded Ball to Cleveland for Isaac Okoro and, after a standoff that lasted more than two months, signed Giddey, a restricted free agent, to a four-year, $100 million extension.
Vegas over/under: 32.5 wins, per BetMGM
The conversation
Bulls believer: This is by far the best I’ve felt about the Bulls since the first half of the 2021-22 season, which turned out to be nothing more than a (beautiful, memorable) blip. I loved the way they played at the end of last season, and I must have watched Josh Giddey’s full-court buzzer-beater against the Lakers 200 times. I know it’s cool to hate on this team right now, but it’s only going to take a couple of weeks for every NBA podcaster to start talking about how Chicago is a fun League Pass team. Giddey’s going to continue to push the pace and throw outrageous passes. It’s impossible not to like Matas Buzelis. All the stat nerds have been hyping up Noa Essengue, too. Now’s the time to buy Bulls stock!
Bulls skeptic: I’m not buying Bulls stock until there’s new leadership in place, and I’m stunned that you’re taking anything positive away from their late-season surge. The run that Giddey went on was the worst thing that could have happened to the franchise: He showed just enough improvement as a shooter and driver for the organization to overlook how horrendous he was in the play-in and pay him way more than he could have gotten anywhere else. Now they’ve invested $100 million in a defensive liability who doesn’t space the floor, doesn’t finish well and turns the ball over too often. Even if Buzelis makes a huge leap in Year 2, I don’t see the Bulls being relevant. You don’t think the 18-year-old kid who got Furphyed at summer league is going to make a difference this year, do you?
Bulls believer: I’m not sure how long it will take Essengue to be a winning player at the NBA level, if that’s what you’re asking, but he was a real contributor to a team that played in the EuroCup and made the Basketball Bundesliga Finals last season. That’s not nothing. Anyway, my point is not that the Bulls are going to be awesome this season. It’s that, while they might take a step back in the standings, they won’t be the miserable mess of a team that a lot of people seem to think they will be. The Patrick Williams contract was clearly an overpay, but I feel like people are still punishing Artūras Karnišovas for that mistake when they rip the Giddey deal, which was at worst a reasonable compromise. It’s not like they gave Giddey the max! He has his flaws, but, as recently as 2024, some analysts compared him favorably to guys like Cade Cunningham, Scottie Barnes and Franz Wagner. He hasn’t even turned 23 yet, and, given that Jalen Suggs got $150.5 million over five years from Orlando, I’m sure Giddey feels like he lost this negotiation. By the way, did you know that only two players have recorded more triple-doubles than Giddey in a Bulls uniform? Their names are Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
Bulls skeptic: People were a lot higher on Giddey before he was exposed in the 2024 playoffs, huh? Fancy that. Look, I have no doubt that he will have nice counting stats if he continues to play big minutes with the ball in his hands, but I don’t care about his 18 career triple-doubles any more than I care about Elfrid Payton’s 17 career triple-doubles. And neither should you! Last season’s Bulls basically never got to the free-throw line, grabbed offensive rebounds or forced turnovers. Their halfcourt defense was terrible, they allowed a zillion shots at the rim and their overall defensive numbers were inflated by 3-point luck. They traded their best player midseason, and this summer they swapped a guy who made them better on both ends (Lonzo Ball) for a 6-foot-5 wing who can’t shoot (Isaac Okoro). The only reason you should be excited about the 2025-26 Bulls is that there’s a real possibility that they could be abjectly awful, which might allow them to find a true franchise player in next year’s draft. Oh, that reminds me: That crazy heave that Giddey made against the Lakers essentially cost the Bulls Cooper Flagg.
Bulls believer: Uh, sure, Giddey’s incredible shot was one of thousands of events that led to Chicago and Dallas having a coin flip to determine which team would have a 1.8% chance of getting the No. 1 pick and which would have a 1.7% chance of getting it. If that means that the buzzer-beater “cost the Bulls Cooper Flagg” to you, then you have a lot to learn about probability. Also, the Okoro acquisition isn’t that hard to understand: This is a 24-year-old former No. 5 overall pick who is a monster in transition and an excellent perimeter defender. Like Giddey in Oklahoma City, his catch-and-shoot numbers aren’t as bad as his reputation suggests, but being on a win-now team magnified his glaring weakness. Chicago seems like the perfect situation for him, since it will play fast and be patient with his development. My only concern is that the East is so rough that, if Giddey, Coby White and Buzelis build on what they did late last season, it’s possible that the Bulls will make the playoffs and Okoro will get played off the floor again.
Bulls skeptic: That’s a great argument for signing Okoro to a minimum contract. Unfortunately, that’s not what the Bulls did. They traded a good player on a team-friendly contract for the “privilege” of adding yet another non-shooting wing to the roster, and they didn’t even get any draft capital in the deal. This is a baffling move, but, after the Alex Caruso-for-Giddey trade and the Williams contract, it’s par for the course in Chicago. I suppose I’m not exactly surprised, either, that the front office has made a big bet on Giddey and once again failed to trade Vučević. The frustrating thing is that, based on the cap space the Bulls have next summer and the fact that they own their future first-round picks, the franchise is still, in theory, in a good position to build something new and sustainable. I just have no faith that it will.