The Chicago Bulls’ 2026-27 training camp roster arrives with a little bit of everything: real upside, real uncertainty, and a few names that force you to squint and ask where exactly they fit.
Friday’s official roster announcement set the stage for camp, which begins Tuesday. And for Bulls fans, the early read is pretty clear - there’s plenty to watch, but not much that feels settled.
Start with the obvious headliners. Caleb Wilson and Matas Buzelis give this group developmental intrigue right away, and Norman Powell brings the kind of offensive freedom that should have Bulls fans waiting to see how loose his shot selection gets.
Then there’s the bigger structural question: how does Josh Giddey mesh with what looks like a mostly new starting lineup, with Buzelis excluded from that group? And what does Nic Claxton look like if he’s fully healed and ready to anchor the middle for the 2026-27 season?
That’s the exciting side. The confusing side is crowded too.
The roster is sprinkled with holdovers from the previous front office regime - Noa Essengue, Rob Dillingham, and Leonard Miller among them - and each brings its own “where does this guy actually land?” conversation.
On the current side, Bryson Graham’s other first-round rookie, Dailyn Swain, has his own proving ground after rough Summer League performances in Las Vegas. If that showing wasn’t just a blip, the path gets a lot tougher.
Buzelis might be the most interesting player in the building. He made headlines on the Cousins with Vince Carter & Tracy McGrady podcast when he talked about his love for midrange jumpers and said he added 12 pounds over the offseason, even hiring a chef as part of that work. But there’s a wrinkle: his listed weight in the 2025 Bulls training camp press release was 196 pounds, according to CHGO’s Will Gottlieb, and the 2026 version of that same release still lists him at 196.
So the questions stack up fast. What is Buzelis’ actual weight?
And more importantly, does the on-court version match the offseason talk? Bulls fans have been told to expect a stronger wing, one ready to lean into those midrange looks.
Now he has to show it.
The camp contract group also gives the Bulls a few names worth tracking, even if the odds are long. Chicago brought in Brandon Boston Jr., Peter Suder, Drew Peterson, Orlando Robinson, and Marquel Sutton.
Boston Jr. is the most familiar fit for Graham, since he played 42 games for the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2024-25 season, Graham’s final year in that front office. A former second-round pick - 51st overall by the Clippers in the 2021 NBA Draft - Boston Jr. is now trying to hold onto an NBA foothold after not making a roster for the 2025-26 season.
Peter Suder may already have an early edge in terms of future organizational value. Peterson’s NBA résumé is thin, with 34 regular-season games over three seasons, and Robinson’s 115 regular-season appearances don’t exactly scream certainty either.
Sutton, though, is the one who could emerge as a camp wildcard. He’s an undrafted rookie who spent four years in college, beginning with three seasons at Omaha and finishing with LSU. He doesn’t profile as a three-point threat - he shot 28.9% from deep in his NCAA career - but he did show a knack for getting to the line, averaging 4.1 free-throw attempts per game and shooting 72.1% there for his college career.
For a Bulls camp that already feels loaded with questions, that’s about right. There are players to monitor, roles to sort out, and a roster that can be read as either promising or puzzling depending on where you start.
In Other News...
Josh Giddey Faces A Defining Bulls Fit Test This Season
Josh Giddey is heading into his third season with the Bulls with something bigger than a contract year or a box score check-in hanging over him. Chicagos front office and coaching staff are pushing a new offensive philosophy built around pace and ball movement, and that puts Giddey in the middle of a familiar modern NBA question: how much on-ball responsibility should a player keep when the system wants the ball moving faster and more often? For a team still trying to define its identity, his fit could be one of the clearest early signs of whether the approach is working.
The challenge for Giddey is less about talent than usage, and that is where the season gets interesting. Chicago does not need him to be the same kind of possession-starter on every trip if the offense is going to look the way the staff wants, which means the next step is finding the right balance between creating and complementing. If he can settle into that role cleanly, the Bulls may have a better answer for what their new offense is supposed to be. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Enter Camp With One Health Question Still Lingering
Training camp is opening with the Bulls still sorting out the health picture, and for most of the roster, the signs are encouraging. Around the league, several notable names have already offered upbeat updates, with Tyrese Haliburton saying he is fully healthy after his Achilles injury, Stephen Curry reporting no current limitations, Luka Doncic cleared after a hamstring strain and Bradley Beal working back from hip surgery while also managing knee inflammation.
For Chicago, the larger issue is less about the star power and more about how many bodies are ready to go once camp begins. Josh Giddey has no restrictions after offseason ankle surgery, which helps settle one question, but there is still at least one lingering concern in camp as the Bulls get set to start Tuesday. Of the teams health questions, this is the one that could matter most if it stretches into the preseason. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Just Sent A Clear Message About Where This Front Office Is Headed
The Bulls keep signaling a shift toward a younger, more modern basketball operations structure, and their latest move fits that pattern. Michael Reinsdorf announced the hiring of Bryson Graham into the front office, adding another voice to the basketball operations department as Chicago continues reshaping the way it staffs key decision-making roles.
Graham arrives with experience that should matter right away, having spent much of his career with the Pelicans before a run as vice president of basketball operations with the Hawks. For a Bulls organization trying to reset its internal direction, the hire says plenty about the kind of profile it is now targeting, even if the broader picture of how this new group will ultimately take shape is still coming into focus. [Read more 🡒]