Ahead of Wednesday night’s matchup with the New York Knicks, the Bulls got a clearer picture of where Dailyn Swain stands in his first NBA season.
Head coach Tiago Splitter said the No. 15 overall pick will be sent to Hoffman Estates once the G League season starts Friday, a move he shared with traveling beat reporters including the Chicago Sun-Times’ Joe Cowley. It had been the expected path for Swain, who was always likely to see time in the G League this year after a rough Summer League and preseason made the jump to NBA minutes look like a work in progress.
Chicago has barely opened the door for him so far. Swain has played in only two games and logged just 19 total minutes, a sign the staff still sees plenty of development ahead. In this rebuilding setting, there was at least a case for giving him more run, but the Bulls appear to believe the extra reps will be more valuable away from the main roster right now.
That should come with a bigger role on the Windy City side, too. Swain is expected to get plenty of attention there and operate as a primary offensive piece.
If the Bulls want to mold him into more of a lead ball-handler, this stretch could be especially useful. At the very least, it gives him a chance to build confidence before he potentially pushes for steadier NBA minutes in the second half of the season.
The frontcourt, meanwhile, is still trying to settle itself. Chicago was close to having a fully healthy center rotation for the first time this season before Jalen Smith went down against the Knicks with a wrist injury.
Smith had already been dealing with a finger issue, and the wrist problem appeared to be on the same hand. He told K.C.
Johnson of Chicago Sports Network that he may be able to play Sunday against the Philadelphia 76ers, which suggests the injury may not be too serious. Even so, it adds another layer to a situation that has already been messy.
Zach Collins and Patrick Williams were forced into action at the five after Smith exited, and Collins’ start to the season has not exactly steadied the group. He deserves some patience after playing just 15 games since the start of the 2025-26 season, but he has still looked uncomfortable in this version of the Bulls’ system.
Nic Claxton could eventually help, but even his return comes with questions. There is no guarantee he instantly solves the defensive issues, especially after missing nearly all of training camp and preseason. He will have his own adjustment period, and the fit with Chicago’s two young wings is still something to watch.
The numbers behind the concern are ugly. The Bulls are allowing opponents to shoot nearly 49.0 percent from the field and are giving up 53.0 points in the paint per game, which ranks fifth most. If the center rotation can’t improve its rim protection, the lopsided losses are likely to keep piling up.
There was at least one bright spot in the latest Rookie Ladder, even if it came with a small drop. Caleb Wilson, who had been No. 3, is now No. 4 behind Cameron Boozer of the Memphis Grizzlies, Yaxel Lendeborg of the Warriors, and Darius Acuff Jr. of the Kings.
Boozer and Lendeborg have stayed ahead of Wilson all season, while Acuff’s recent surge pushed him into the top three. He’s averaging 26.1 points and 6.3 assists per game, and he turned in the most eye-catching performance by any rookie so far this season with 38 points and nine made threes against Boozer’s Grizzlies.
Wilson’s slide does not knock him out of the Rookie of the Year race. Even with Chicago off to a slow start, he has been playing at a high level through his first seven games.
But the ranking does underline how crowded the award chase already is. Boozer and Lendeborg, in particular, are making strong early cases.
Boozer’s start is especially hard to overlook. Lendeborg is entering the league at 24, but Boozer is 19 and leading a 6-2 Grizzlies team. If Wilson wants to stay in the center of that conversation, he may need to keep stacking highlight plays to cut through the noise of winning records and early momentum.
In Other News...
Bulls Linked To A Defensive Guard With One Huge Top Pick Concern
The early buzz around the 2027 draft has already started to circle back to Chicago, and one name tied to the Bulls is Arkansas freshman guard Smith. Jonathan Wassermans latest mock has the 6-foot-2 prospect landing with the Bulls near the top of the board, which is enough to get attention given the franchises need to keep adding young talent with two-way upside. Smith arrived with a reputation built on strong high school production, and his first taste of college ball hinted at why evaluators are intrigued.
What makes him such a compelling fit is also what keeps the conversation from getting too far ahead of itself. Smith showed defensive strength and enough scoring pop to look like a real lottery-level prospect, but the next step is proving his decision-making and shooting can hold up against NBA pressure. For a Bulls team watching the draft landscape this far out, the appeal is obvious, even if the biggest question around him is still very much unresolved. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Have A Bigger Problem Than Their 1-7 Record
The early-season record is ugly enough, but the deeper concern around the Bulls is how completely they have been overwhelmed on both ends of the floor. Through the first stretch of the 2026-27 season, Chicago has struggled to score efficiently, has been leaky defensively and has not shown the kind of consistent effort that usually gives a young team a chance to survive rough patches.
There is still a long season ahead, and that is the one thing working in the Bulls favor. With a roster built around youth, the hope is that the group can stabilize as the schedule goes on, but right now the bigger issue is not just losing games - it is how historically lopsided those losses have been, and how much ground Chicago has already dug itself before the season has even settled in. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Rookie Caleb Wilson Just Got A Tough Message From Tiago Splitter
Caleb Wilsons latest night offered a blunt reminder that the NBA can turn quickly on a rookie, especially when the game starts slipping away. The Bulls first-year player struggled to find a rhythm, finishing with 5 points on 2-for-12 shooting and three turnovers before head coach Tiago Splitter decided the performance was no longer good enough to keep him on the floor.
Splitter framed the decision as part of Wilsons growth, not just a one-game setback, and said the rookie has to respond the right way when things go sideways. For a young player trying to earn trust, the message was clear: development in Chicago is going to require more than talent, because resilience and the ability to learn from adversity are part of the standard too. [Read more 🡒]