Noa Essengue entered the summer with plenty to prove, and his first run with the Bulls’ new brass only made the picture murkier.
The forward was already trying to climb back from a lost rookie year after sitting out essentially the entire season. He had shoulder surgery in December of 2025, and by the time Summer League practice rolled around, he said he was about 95.0 percent back. Even then, he described the rehab as brutal, saying he had practically had to learn to play with a new shoulder.
That recovery was only part of the challenge. Essengue also had to make his first real impression on a front office and coach who didn’t draft him. Bryson Graham and Tiago Splitter inherited the project, and Splitter’s early comments made it clear he wanted to see more before buying in.
“I think he’s a guy that didn’t play much last year, as you guys know," Splitter said. "Very long.
The expectations are higher because he’s a six-ten, six-eleven player who can put the ball on the floor, shoot a little bit, do a lot of things. But, honestly, it’s too early for me to say.
I want to see him in a game.”
When the games arrived in Las Vegas, Essengue didn’t exactly calm those concerns. Splitter pulled him in the second half of Game 2, and the reasons were easy to see.
Essengue looked overwhelmed, coughed the ball up repeatedly and kept ending up on the floor. Asked about the latter, Splitter didn’t have much to offer.
“I wish I had an answer for you," Splitter said with a frustrated smile on his face.
Essengue did bring a little more edge later in the week, and coming off the bench in Game 3 and Game 4 may have given him something to push against. But the overall impression still wasn’t a strong one, and the Sun-Times Joe Cowley reported that some of the Bulls’ newest faces were bothered by his mentality.
"To Essengue’s credit he did seem to hear the message, coming out of Las Vegas with an understanding that he needs to be less emotional and more tenacious. According to a source, two traits that irked the new staff," Cowley wrote.
That doesn’t mean the Bulls should be ready to move on. Essengue came into the summer with the deck stacked against him, and the shoulder surgery alone makes patience feel reasonable. He also has the kind of tools this staff appears to value: huge length, real mobility and the outline of a two-way wing if everything comes together.
The problem is timing. How long is Chicago willing to wait, especially with other young pieces in the mix?
The rotation is crowded enough to make his path look shaky. Caleb Wilson and Matas Buzelis are set to start on the wings, Dailyn Swain should get his share of bench minutes, Leonard Miller impressed in the second half of 2025-26, and Jalen Smith figures to split time between the two frontcourt spots again after playing his best ball at the four last season.
So Essengue is left in a strange spot entering Year 2. Under the previous regime, there was a clear lane for him to play. That lane looks a lot narrower now.
There’s still a case for keeping him involved. His offense is raw, with shaky ball-handling and weak finishing, but his defense gives him something to work with. He can move well on the perimeter and has the length to bother shots near the rim, even if his lack of strength makes life difficult against more traditional frontcourt players.
For now, the best answer is probably exposure. If this season is about development and evaluation, Essengue needs to be part of it. The only way to figure out what he can become is to put him in different situations and see how he responds.
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