The Chicago Bulls are heading into a season that should be defined by youth, change, and a whole lot of uncertainty. Caleb Wilson and Dailyn Swain are set to help usher in the next phase, Tiago Splitter will be tasked with setting the tone, Matas Buzelis will keep chasing his rise, and Josh Giddey has to show a new front office why he matters. But beneath those bigger names, there are a few quieter storylines that could end up telling you plenty about where this team is going.
One of the more intriguing pieces is Leonard Miller, who arrived after Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley left Bryson Graham with a roster that wasn’t a total wreck. Miller came over in one of the many trade deadline moves, and he gave Chicago something it badly needed: a young forward with real upside who hadn’t yet gotten a fair NBA look.
That chance mattered. Miller had been buried on a Timberwolves team trying to win now, with little room for a developmental wing to breathe.
He came out of the G League Ignite program with a reputation for athletic pop and defensive versatility, and there was always a sense that he deserved more than spot minutes. Chicago gave him that opening, and he ran with it.
By the end of the year, he had earned Billy Donovan’s trust and pushed past Patrick Williams in the rotation. Over his final 18 games, Miller averaged roughly 15.0 points and 7.0 rebounds while shooting 54.6 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from deep.
The Bulls weren’t playing for anything meaningful by then, but Miller looked like exactly the kind of developmental piece a rebuilding team wants to find. Graham seemed to think so too, picking up his team option soon after taking over.
Miller still isn’t going to jump the line ahead of Buzelis or Caleb Wilson. He’ll have to prove himself all over again for a brand-new coaching staff.
Even so, if he builds on what he showed late last season, Chicago could have another young two-way piece in the mix. He has size, he can defend multiple spots, he runs the floor, and he plays with a physical edge despite a slimmer frame.
The added bonus is the shooting touch, which has been better than expected. That combination gives him a real chance to grow into a 3-and-D threat worth keeping around.
Then there’s Zach Collins, one of the more surprising free-agent bets the Bulls made. Chicago’s first wave of signings was pretty straightforward: Norman Powell got a two-year, $45.0 million deal, and Nic Claxton was brought in from the Brooklyn Nets without the Bulls having to send anything back. Those moves fit the broader plan of adding short-term help while the front office figures out what it inherited.
Collins, though, was the one that raised eyebrows. He played in only ten games during the 2025-26 season because of injury issues, and it looked like he might be headed elsewhere in unrestricted free agency.
Instead, the Bulls gave him a two-year, $17.0 million contract. It’s another flexible deal, since he also has a team option in the second season, but $8.5 million a year is still a lot for a player who has had so much trouble staying on the floor.
At the same time, Chicago didn’t exactly lack backup-center options. Jalen Smith is entering the final year of his deal and is coming off one of his best seasons.
Still, when Collins is healthy, he brings useful stuff: strength on the boards, solid screening, more mobility than you might expect, and enough shooting to stretch the floor at the five. Bulls fans already saw a version of that when he filled in for an injured Nikola Vucevic two seasons ago and piled up double-digit rebounds and hustle production.
If Collins can get healthy, he can help this team. But there’s another layer here too: he could become a trade chip.
That feels like the real play. Get him right, let him show he can play, and see what the market looks like in February.
For a rebuilding team, that kind of flexibility is gold.
The most uncertain name in the mix might be Noa Essengue. The No. 12 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft barely got a rookie year at all after shoulder surgery wiped out almost the entire season. Then came Summer League, where he looked raw in a way that probably made plenty of Bulls fans uneasy.
His Las Vegas showing was rough enough that Splitter benched him to open the second half of Game 2. Essengue was coughing up the ball, losing his footing, and missing around the rim.
There’s some grace to be given there, since it was his first game action since the injury. But it also showed just how far he has to go.
Playing time won’t come easy for him, even with Chicago in rebuild mode. The competition is real, and the Bulls won’t want to throw him into situations where he gets overwhelmed.
Development matters, but so does not letting a young player get swallowed up before he’s ready. An extended run in the G League wouldn’t be a shock.
At the same time, he’s only 19, and he was always viewed as a project. Nobody should write him off yet.
Still, it matters that this front office didn’t make the pick. That means the patience level may not be the same as it was before.
In Other News...
Billy Donovan Just Raised A New Concern Around Bulls Prospects
The college-to-pro path keeps getting messier, and Billy Donovan thinks the line should be a lot clearer. The former Bulls coach, now an assistant in San Antonio, said he has seen college coaches reach out to players in the G League about returning to campus basketball, even as those players have already made the jump into the professional ranks. His view is simple enough: once a player leaves college for a pro league, he ought to stay there.
Donovan did draw a distinction for undrafted players who are trying to find their way back into school ball, saying he is supportive of that route. What makes the issue feel more immediate for Chicago is the way Donovan framed the broader recruiting reality around the Bulls G League sphere, where teams are now navigating a market that did not exist in anything like this form a few years ago. The names he had in mind were not identified, but the concern he raised is one plenty of front offices are now watching closely. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Linked To Intriguing Role In Proposed Lakers Mavs Trade
The Lakers miss on Jonathan Kuminga has already sent the rumor mill into a new gear, and one proposed response would drag the Bulls into the picture as a facilitator. NBA insider Jake Weinbach floated a three-team framework that would send P.J. Washington from Dallas to Los Angeles, while Chicago would be the third club helping make the math work in a deal centered on roster reshuffling and future flexibility.
For the Bulls, the appeal in a setup like that is less about headline talent and more about being the team that can smooth out the transaction for everyone else. The idea is still entirely speculative, but Chicagos role would be part of the same familiar trade landscape that often emerges when one team wants to simplify its books and another needs a clean path to the player it wants. [Read more 🡒]
Caleb Wilson Is Giving Bulls Fans A Reason To Dream Early
Caleb Wilson did not wait long to make himself noticed in a Bulls uniform. The rookies Summer League debut turned heads with a 35-point burst, and that showing has only added to the buzz building around a player who already had team sources talking about his early impact. For a Chicago team in the middle of significant offseason change, any sign of upside matters, and Wilson has quickly become one of the more intriguing names in the mix.
What makes the early optimism more interesting is how much work sits behind it. Wilson battled injuries during his college season, then spent the offseason rebuilding his shot with relentless repetition, putting in marathon days from deep to sharpen the part of his game the Bulls believe can translate. The questions now are less about whether he can capture attention and more about how quickly that promise can become something useful once the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]