2026 NBA Draft Needs: Chicago Bulls

The first year post-Zach LaVine was rocky for the Bulls. As a result, they fired Billy Donovan and are currently seeking a new head coach. The pieces for a playoff team are there, but the Bulls are far from competing. They are at a crossroads. They traded away the last of their veterans at the trade deadline and have a choice between re-signing the veterans they got back or using their money to get a different supporting cast around their young core.

State of the Team:

Rebuilding: The Bulls are finally accepting they needed a full teardown.

Positional Strengths and Weaknesses:

Guards:

The Bulls guard corps is Josh Giddey, Tre Jones, and Rob Dillingham

Initially, the Alex Caruso trade seemed one-sided because Josh Giddey, once a promising young player, had his confidence wrecked at the end of his OKC tenure. But Giddey has revitalized his career in Chicago. At 23 years old, entering his third year with the Bulls, he looks to be the point guard of the future. Giddey’s value comes from his playmaking, ball handling, and defensive rebounding. 

Tre Jones doesn’t have the size of Giddey, but he is more efficient with a 63.7% true shooting vs Giddey’s 56.2%. Jones is 26 and on a bargain contract as a pure point with great playmaking. He’s not the volume scorer Giddey is, but if one goes down, the other can replace him. 

Rob Dillingham, a once highly touted prospect, is the biggest question mark on the roster. Dillingham is a below-average defender, and his 2.8-to-2.1 assist-to-turnover ratio with the Bulls was poor. He is only 21 and entering his third year in the league, but he needs to show improvement soon or he will be out of the league.

Wings/Forwards:

The Bulls wing and forward corps is Matas Buzelis, Isaac Okoro, Leonard Miller, Patrick Williams, and Noa Essengue. 

Buzelis never hit a sophomore slump. Instead, the second-year forward nearly doubled his scoring from 8.6 PPG to 16.3 PPG. While his three-point percentage dropped from 36.1% to 34.9%, this was accompanied by an increase in two-point percentage from 54% to 58.3%. Buzelis could solidify as an All-Star power forward as early as next year if his trajectory holds. 

Isaac Okoro is an excellent defensive piece who has struggled to develop an offensive game. Either as a defensive starter or as a rotation piece, Okoro can take on point-of-attack reps and be an anchor for the Bulls. 

Leonard Miller should be a solid backup forward with below-average defense but solid offensive contributions. Patrick Williams has been a disappointment and carries one of the worst contracts in the league. He isn’t unplayable, but he should only see the floor when the Bulls need perimeter shooting. Noa Essengue is an unknown. He was selected in the first round last year, but an injury ended his rookie season with six minutes of game time.

Bigs:

The Bulls big corps is Jalen Smith. 

The Bulls’ other centers from the season are not under contract and need to be re-signed in free agency. Jalen Smith is the only big man on the roster still under contract who spent considerable time at center. He is a small-ball big with good shot-making and excellent rebounding. He will struggle if asked to be the team’s rim protector but could be a dependable backup or even play power forward if the Bulls draft or sign a starting center. 

Draft Needs:

The Bulls need stars. Buzelis has the potential to be an All-Star-caliber player, and Giddey is a borderline All-Star candidate. Outside that, they have a mix of dependable starters and rotation players who won’t let the team fall to the bottom of the league, but that’s been their problem. The Bulls need to embrace the tank, draft high-potential players, let them be inefficient, let them make mistakes, let the team bottom out, and model themselves after how OKC built their team.

Prospects Who Fit:

Aday Mara (C/Big, Michigan)

Aday Mara is the top big man prospect in the draft, and he lives up to the term BIG. At 7-foot-3, 260 pounds, with a 7-foot-7 wingspan, Mara is a massive player. At Michigan, he anchored the Wolverines on their run to the NCAA Championship. He isn’t hyper-athletic or flexible like Victor Wembanyama, but his rim protection, inside scoring, and surprising passing vision and feel make him a unique prospect. Scoring on 66.8% of his shots, even on only 7.5 attempts a night, is impressive for the level of competition Mara faced.

Mara’s biggest question is his potential. As a junior in college at 21 years old, Mara had never attempted a three-point shot until this past year. Even then, he only attempted 10 shots. Mara has the tools to be an offensive hub who not only scores and passes but draws a strong gravity that pulls in defenders. If he develops even a below-average three-ball, it could open up more offensive options and give him greater versatility. He also needs to add muscle; bigger, stronger drivers in the NBA like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, and Zion Williamson will be able to bully him in the paint. 

Mara’s strengths are his scoring, passing, defensive length, and shot blocking. Traditional bigs were thought to be extinct, but players like Zach Edey and Donovan Clingan prove there’s still value in a giant oak tree protecting the rim. The Bulls will need to adjust how they run their offense and defense if they select Mara. Additionally, Mara is a bit of a reach at pick 4. However, the Bulls have lacked a defensive big man since Joakim Noah. Giving their fledgling team a defensive anchor who can deter drivers and finishers while also providing a high-percentage shot on the other end is exactly what a young team needs. Simplify the offense and defense. Let Mara get to work, and he will be the heart of the future Bulls.

Caleb Wilson (SF/Forward, UNC)

Caleb Wilson was built in a lab. Even though Wilson is listed as a forward, he moves and looks like a wing. At 6-foot-9 and a quarter, 211 pounds, with a 7-foot wingspan, he sounds like a traditional power forward. But Wilson has industrial-strength springs in his legs. He is fast, he is big, he is all the athletic descriptors in a dictionary. However, he is very raw.

Up until now, Wilson has been able to out-athlete any problem he ran into. Got lost and left your assignment open in the corner? No worries. Just lunge two paces and launch into the air to block the shot. Had to pick up your dribble on a drive and have three defenders collapsing? No worries. Just slow down into a Euro-step and muscle your way to a soft layup. He needs to improve his positioning, feel for screens, passing to open teammates on his drives, and more. But sometimes, athleticism is all a player needs to make a play.

At every level of play, Wilson has been the best athlete on the court. Physical tools can only take you so far. He can make the plays he does because he does have a relentless motor and has the instincts to realize when he’s made a mistake and uses his athleticism to correct the mistake. His stat line for the year shows he has the effort: 19.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.4 blocks, 1.5 steals, with an efficient 62.6% true shooting. 

The Bulls need potential. With Noa Essengue and Matas Buzelis already on the roster, Wilson could legitimately move to small forward. He lacks a threeball, only attempting 1.1 a game, only scoring 25.9% of the time, which limits him. He needs mountains of reps to polish his game, but the Bulls have that time. He may need several years, but with the motor and talent Wilson possesses, he will become a valuable player one way or another. Whether it’s because he adds a three-ball to go with his dunks and mid-rangers, or becomes a top-tier switchable defender who battles the best player on the opposite team, he will help the Bulls. If several of those potential scenarios hit at once, Wilson could be an All-NBA player.