The Bulls are a long way from championship-ready, and Ben Golliver’s latest NBA ranking makes that plain.
On Friday, the ESPN writer sorted the 22 teams that have not won a title since 2019 into eight tiers, ranging from “championship-ready” down to “maybe-never.” Chicago landed in the sixth-lowest group, labeled “maybe by 2032,” which says plenty about how much work still sits ahead in this rebuild.
At the top of Golliver’s list sits the defending 2025-26 NBA Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs, the lone team in his highest tier. That placement is built around Victor Wembamyama’s star power, Stephon Castle’s emergence, and a bench that includes Dylan Harper, whom Golliver sees as a likely future superstar, plus reigning 2025-26 NBA sixth-man-of-the-year Keldon Johnson and a mix of veterans and young rotation pieces. The big separator, though, is production: the Spurs finished the 2025-26 regular season with elite offensive and defensive efficiency ratings, ranking 4th on offense and 3rd on defense.
Chicago’s path looks a lot messier. The Bulls’ rebuild is expected to start with rookie forward Caleb Wilson as the franchise’s centerpiece, with forward Matas Buzelis and guard Josh Giddey as the most logical candidates to grow alongside him.
Wilson and Buzelis are already working out together during the 2026 NBA offseason, a useful first step toward building chemistry. Giddey’s fit matters just as much, especially if the Bulls want the Wilson-Giddey two-man game to become a real weapon.
The three-man connection among Giddey, Wilson, and Buzelis could end up defining the early version of this roster.
But there’s no guarantee Buzelis and Giddey are the right long-term co-stars next to Wilson. Sorting that out needs to be one of the Bulls’ biggest goals in the 2026-27 NBA season.
The bench is another puzzle, and not a small one. A lot of those minutes are tied up in holdovers from the previous front office regime, including Patrick Williams, Isaac Okoro, and Rob Dillingham, players Golliver suggested might be better off getting a fresh start elsewhere. In fact, he framed almost everyone on the Bulls’ bench as tradeable except Dailyn Swain, though he also noted that Swain should get at least 20 NBA regular-season games before anyone rushes to judgment.
The numbers back up how far Chicago has to climb. Basketball Reference had the Bulls at 23rd in offensive rating at 113.0 and 22nd in defensive rating at 118.1.
The offense needs cleaner possession management first, since Chicago ranked 23rd in offensive turnover percentage. On the other end, the Bulls have to generate more pressure and force more mistakes, because they finished 29th in defensive turnover percentage.
That’s the blueprint, at least in broad strokes: find the right core around Wilson, untangle the bench, and start fixing the possession battle on both ends. Right now, that’s a rebuild with a lot of moving parts and no shortcuts.
In Other News...
New Wrinkle Reopens One Of Bulls Fans Most Painful Draft Regrets
Every so often, an old Bulls draft memory gets dragged back into the light, and this one still stings. Former New Jersey Nets assistant general manager Bobby Marks recently revisited the 2006 NBA Draft, when Chicago moved from the second pick to No. 4 and chose Tyrus Thomas instead of LaMarcus Aldridge, a decision that has only grown harder to revisit with time as Aldridge went on to have the far more accomplished NBA career.
Marks account also adds a fresh layer to the what-if game around that night, because the Bulls were not just deciding whether to stay put or slide back a little. The Nets actual selections, along with the idea that Chicago might have gone even further back or taken a different package of future picks, make the move feel like one of those draft crossroads that can be measured in hindsight but never fully untangled in the moment. [Read more 🡒]
NBA Offseason Moves Quietly Reshape League Future
The offseasons quieter moves can end up mattering just as much as the headline-grabbers, and Nic Claxton landing in Chicago fits that mold. For a Bulls team looking to firm up its interior presence, adding a defender and rim protector of Claxtons profile gives the roster a different edge, especially as the league keeps rewarding teams that can survive on both ends without overcommitting to one style.
Around the rest of the NBA, the ripple effects are easy to spot. Marcus Smarts two-year deal with Houston brings a familiar defensive tone to the Rockets, while Dallas turning to Dusty May as its head coach adds a fresh voice with real pressure to shape the Mavericks direction. For Chicago, the bigger question is how quickly a move like the Claxton trade translates into actual depth and nightly consistency once the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Rebuild Already Faces The Same Defensive Fear Again
A fresh look at Chicagos defensive outlook has already revived an old concern, with an NBA stats graphic circulating on social media showing several Bulls-related lineups among the leagues least efficient half-court defensive groups in the 2025-26 season. For a team trying to reset under new executive vice president Bryson Graham and head coach Tiago Splitter, it is a blunt reminder that the rebuild is not just about adding offense or leaning on young talent. It is also about proving the Bulls can stop somebody when the game slows down.
The larger issue is familiar because it has followed the franchise for years: is this a coaching problem, or does the roster simply not have enough defensive heft to hold up in the half court? Individual players bring different defensive traits, but the early evidence has done little to quiet the skepticism around the unit as a whole. The 2026-27 season is shaping up as the real test, not just of the new leadership, but of whether the Bulls can finally turn that long-running fear into something more manageable. [Read more 🡒]