The Chicago Bulls reportedly spent part of the offseason circling one of the EuroLeague’s most productive guards, and Sylvain Francisco says the conversation got real enough that he saw Chicago as a possible landing spot.
In an interview with French outlet L'Equipe, Francisco said several NBA teams had interest in him this summer and pointed to the Bulls as one of them. Via Eurohoops, he described the situation this way:
“Yes, in the NBA, there were openings, at least five or six teams, many on guaranteed two-year contracts. I had the opportunity with the Chicago Bulls, but the trade they wanted to make before stalled because in the NBA, everyone was waiting for LeBron’s decision. However, my deadline was until July 20, and LeBron signed… four days later," Francisco reportedly told L'Equipe.
Francisco’s deadline appears to have come from a clause in his ASVEL contract that gave him the ability to opt out until a certain date. His version of events is that NBA teams were holding off until LeBron James made his decision, and by the time that happened, Francisco had already had to choose his next move.
He also said the Bulls would have needed to finish a trade first before bringing him aboard, and that move never happened. That, at least according to Francisco, ended any chance of a deal with Chicago.
The 28-year-old is now expected to play the 2026-27 season with Panathinaikos. He just turned in the best season of his career, earning All-EuroLeague First Team honors and finishing second in MVP voting. Francisco averaged 16.7 points and 6.4 assists while shooting 39.9 percent from three, and he helped BC Žalgiris finish 24-18.
This wasn’t Francisco’s first brush with the NBA. He went undrafted in 2019 and later got a Summer League look with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2022.
Still, the exact shape of the Bulls’ interest is tough to pin down from the outside. Francisco’s comments suggest real contact, but the LeBron timing and the need for a trade leave the whole thing murky. Chicago also has had an open roster spot for weeks, which makes the trade explanation harder to read from a distance.
On paper, though, the fit makes some sense. Francisco is a 6-foot-1 point guard with a clean outside shot, and the Bulls’ backcourt depth has been thin. He also said the NBA talks centered on two-year contracts, which lines up with what Graham has done recently.
There’s also a small connection on the coaching side. Bulls assistant Tiago Splitter coached Paris Basketball in 2024-25, and while Francisco played for Paris from 2018 to 2020, their time there didn’t overlap. Even so, Francisco has been around long enough that Splitter likely knew his game.
Whether Chicago was truly close to landing him may never be fully clear. But if Francisco’s account is accurate, it does show the Bulls’ new front office is looking broadly as it tries to find useful pieces for the rebuild, and that the EuroLeague could remain a place they keep shopping.
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