Chicago Bulls’ future deemed utterly bleak by NBA insider

The days of Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan are over. The Chicago Bulls seem finally intent on not just loading up with veterans only to go .500 or somewhere near it. Unfortunately, the roster still hovers around that point, and the future doesn’t look too bright.

Right now, it’s unlikely that the Bulls are the 28th-best team as ESPN indicated. The core of Josh Giddey, Matas Buzelis, Coby White, and Nikola Vucevic is good enough to be better than a top-of-the-lottery squad, but not by a ton.

However, in the future, insider Kevin Pelton doesn’t see any reason Chicago should be ranked higher than that. “In terms of wins, it’s unlikely Chicago will finish this low after posting 40, 39, and 39 wins, respectively, over the past three seasons,” Pelton wrote.

So right now, they’re not bad. They just don’t have a hope of actually becoming a good team. “Few teams have less hope of becoming a contender than the Bulls, who have prioritized competing for the play-in over grander ambitions,” Pelton went on to write.

He did credit the transition from aging vets to younger players, but it’s still not great. “Chicago has gotten younger, transitioning from a DeMar DeRozan-Zach LaVine core to one led by Coby White (25) and Josh Giddey (22). The Bulls will have cap flexibility next summer, but we don’t trust this organization to maximize that opportunity,” Pelton wrote.

The Bulls don’t have a promising young talent right now. We know what Giddey is, and he’s not a superstar in the making. Matas Buzelis is on an upward trajectory, but even he doesn’t project as a franchise-altering talent. Coby White is also good, but he’s 25 and probably has hit his ceiling.

There’s no major building block, nor are there the assets needed to find one. Chicago can be active in 2026 free agency, but it’s unlikely they sign the top players in that class: Trae Young, James Harden, LeBron James, Andrew Wiggins, or Kevin Durant. Only the New Orleans Pelicans and Phoenix Suns are in worse shape, according to ESPN.