2026 NBA mock draft has Chicago Bulls landing ‘confident shotmaker’

According to Jonathan Wasserman, a draft expert with Bleacher Report, it will be Arizona guard Brayden Burries. The Bulls are probably going to re-sign Josh Giddey, which is what helps them stay at the 12th pick in Wasserman’s mock, but the guard rotation isn’t as secure otherwise.

Coby White is a pending free agent with trade rumors swirling, and he’ll likely end up overpaid if he stays in Chicago. Ayo Dosunmu isn’t an elite player, and he is also a free agent soon. The backcourt isn’t secure beyond this year.

“One of the top scoring guards in the 2025 high school class, Brayden Burries should give Arizona an instant injection of creation and ball-screen offense,” Wasserman said in predicting that the Bulls would select the Arizona guard.

Wasserman continued, “At 6’4″, 205 pounds, he has a strong mix of size, strength, and touch for driving and tossing in floaters. He does most of his damage at the rim or behind the arc, where he’s a confident shotmaker but still needs to become more consistent.”

The analyst believes Burries does enough with his passing to get scouts to imagine a good combination of scoring and playmaking at the NBA level. However, make no mistake about it, Burries’ bread and butter is scoring the basketball, which he does on and off the ball.

“Burries should be a high pick if he can avoid concerns over lacking playmaking upside or explosiveness,” Wasserman said. He would give the Bulls a valuable guard to build around, adding to the two young frontcourt players they’ve acquired over the last couple of seasons with Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue. It’s hard to build from the 11th and 12th picks, but this is how Chicago can do it.