Noa Essengue and Matas Buzelis Should Provide Hope for the Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls are perhaps the most directionless franchise in the NBA at the moment. Their previous core of Lonzo Ball, Zach LaVine, Demar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic once sat at the top of the Eastern Conference for an extended stretch. Now, only Vucevic remains. They seem destined for the play-in every season, and the departure of previous starters has only returned one first-round draft pick: their own.

The Chicago Bulls are in basketball purgatory; there's no denying that. And fans' frustrations have only grown over the past couple of weeks as they watched Alex Caruso play a key role in the Oklahoma City Thunder capturing the NBA championship, and read reports that Josh Giddey might sign a contract worth $30 million annually to stay with the franchise.

In the face of this dark period, though, Chicago Bulls fans should find hope in Matas Buzelis and their 2025 first-round pick: Noa Essengue. Buzelis looks like a steal. 2024 was seen by many as a weak class, and the Bulls landed him 11th overall. For the last two months of the season, Buzelis looked like a rookie of the year candidate. He has a deep bag, great first step, and bouncy athleticism. The talent is sharpening quickly.

Essengue could be in a similar boat. The French forward was the second-youngest player in the 2025 NBA Draft after Cooper Flagg, and while the Bulls ended up with him at 12, there were talks heading into draft night about Essengue landing in the top six. Essengue is an elite athlete, just like Buzelis. He's 6-foot-10 with a near 7-foot-1 wingspan. He's quick on his feet and has great lateral speed.

As a rookie, he will likely have a defensive impact on day one. His ability to guard multiple positions, cover ground, and offer secondary rim protection has been on display all season with Ratiopharm Ulm, and expect him to bring the same to the Chicago Bulls from the get-go. Him, Buzelis, Giddey, and Coby White should provide great defensive coverage for the ageing and plodding Vucevic.

Essengue's offense has some doubts. He only shot 28 percent from deep on 127 attempts, but was 71 percent from the line and had an elite free-throw rate of 0.8 across all competitions. The free-throw rate could be an indicator that a lot of what we saw from him on the offensive end, attacking closeouts, high effectiveness as the roll man, and cutting and finishing could translate to the NBA. He was obviously creating consistent advantages against his now inferior competition, which means his skill set could be ready for a notable jump in competition.

Essengue projects to be the forward it looks like the Bulls will never get in Patrick Williams, and potentially go beyond that. His fit next to Buzelis as a three-four combo, their athleticism, talent, and overall versatility is tantalizing. The overall mood in Chicago has been dire for a couple of seasons now, but hitting on two straight late lottery picks can change things quickly.