The Chicago Bulls aren’t tanking - at least not intentionally. But if you watched them play lately, you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise.
What’s unfolding in Chicago is the kind of accidental bottoming out that rebuilding teams dream about. The Bulls are losing - convincingly, consistently - and they’re doing it while earnestly trying to win.
That’s a rare and oddly enviable position for a team staring down a stacked draft class.
Let’s start at the top. Executive VP of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas reshaped the roster with seven new additions, including four guards - and that’s not even counting Mac McClung on a two-way deal.
The result? A group that’s wildly unbalanced, largely unfamiliar with each other, and trying to learn a new system on the fly.
This isn’t a case of a team intentionally gutting its roster to chase ping-pong balls. The Bulls are simply struggling to put together 48 minutes of competent basketball.
And it’s not just chemistry - conditioning is a real issue. Most of these players weren’t logging major minutes with their previous teams, and now they’re being asked to run Billy Donovan’s up-tempo system.
That’s a tough ask even for well-conditioned squads.
And that’s before you factor in the injuries. Josh Giddey and Tre Jones are sidelined until after the All-Star break.
Zach Collins might not return at all. That’s three key pieces who aren’t walking through that door anytime soon.
So what you’re left with is a roster that’s overextended, underprepared, and outmatched - but still competing. That’s the perfect storm for a stealth tank.
Three Games, Three Losses, and a Masterclass in Unintentional Tanking
The Bulls haven’t just lost - they’ve done so in ways that make lottery strategists nod in appreciation.
Anfernee Simons, acquired in the deal that sent Nikola Vucevic to Boston, got the starting nod in his Bulls debut. He played 32 minutes in a 16-point loss to the Raptors.
Guerschon Yabusele came off the bench and logged 33 minutes. Jaden Ivey started next to Simons in the backcourt and played 33 himself.
Two nights later, that same trio started again, joined by Collin Sexton and Rob Dillingham. This time, the Bulls actually built a seven-point lead heading into the fourth quarter against the defending champion Denver Nuggets. Then came the collapse: outscored by 23 in the final 12 minutes, they lost by 16.
Then came Brooklyn. The Nets entered with the league’s fifth-worst record, but still managed to outlast the Bulls 123-115 in a game that was tied heading into the fourth. That’s three games, three losses, and two late-game meltdowns that perfectly encapsulate where this team is right now.
Minutes Are Up, Wins Are Down
Simons has now started all three games since arriving in Chicago, averaging 32.7 minutes per night. Sexton is logging 30.5 minutes off the bench.
Ivey’s at 29.0, Yabusele 27.3, Nick Richards 22.5, and Dillingham 22.0. That’s a lot of floor time for players who, just a week ago, were barely seeing the court.
As noted by Joel Lorenzi, none of Yabusele, Dillingham, or Richards were playing even 10 minutes per game before landing in Chicago. Now they’re rotation staples.
That’s not a knock on the players - it’s a reflection of the Bulls’ current reality. This is what happens when a roster is overhauled midseason and thrown into the fire without the benefit of training camp, preseason reps, or even much practice time.
The Accidental Tank Is On
The Bulls have dropped five straight and are staring down a brutal five-game stretch against Eastern Conference playoff contenders: Boston, Toronto, Detroit, New York, and Charlotte. If the season ended today, they’d hold the ninth-best odds for the No. 1 pick in what’s shaping up to be a deep and talented draft class.
And here’s the kicker: they didn’t even mean to do this. Karnisovas didn’t set out to bottom out. But through a combination of roster imbalance, injuries, and a steep learning curve, Chicago has stumbled into the kind of organic tanking scenario that front offices spend years trying to engineer.
The Bulls are trying - and that’s what makes this so fascinating. Billy Donovan’s teams don’t roll over.
They compete. But when you’re trotting out players still finding their legs, still learning the playbook, and still figuring out each other’s tendencies, the results speak for themselves.
Chicago didn’t plan to be this bad. But right now, they’re playing like a team destined for the lottery - and in this case, that might be the best thing that could’ve happened.