The Chicago Bulls’ next big roster task is finding the kind of veteran wing support Dallas just locked up around Naji Marshall.
On Sunday, Marc Stein of The Stein Line reported that the Mavericks and Marshall agreed to a three-year, $50 million contract extension that will remove him from the 2027 NBA unrestricted free agency market.
Marshall’s payday reflects a huge leap in his role and production. After a career year in 2025-26, he nearly doubled his salary with the new deal.
He had been set to enter the final season of his original three-year Dallas contract, which paid $9.4 million. He also became a regular starter after the first 20 games of the 2025-26 season, eventually starting 47 games and posting career highs of 15.2 points, 3.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game.
The Mavericks also got value from Marshall’s steady presence next to 2025-26 NBA rookie of the year Cooper Flagg. Marshall finished second on Dallas in assists to Flagg’s field-goal makes, with 41 assists to Flagg, according to NBA Stats.
That’s the blueprint the Bulls should be eyeing for Caleb Wilson, who intends to chase the 2026-27 NBA rookie-of-the-year award. If Chicago wants to follow Dallas’ lead, it needs to secure a long-term veteran who fits Wilson’s timeline.
Norman Powell is already on the roster, of course, and he is an established NBA champion veteran. But there’s still a real chance Powell won’t be around beyond the 2026-27 season because of the short-term structure of his Bulls contract.
Matas Buzelis could be part of the answer, and he and Wilson may eventually become an elite wing pairing. Even so, Buzelis could use another veteran in the room after discussing his reaction to the Bulls’ massive roster turnover at the 2026 NBA trade deadline with Lonzo Ball on his podcast.
Buzelis has also said he knows he needs to sharpen his decision-making, and that is exactly where a veteran wing could help him as he heads into his crucial third NBA season.
The Bulls may already have a head start on this search. Bryson Graham, the team’s lead front office executive, previously had a hand in signing Marshall to an NBA two-way contract with the New Orleans Pelicans when Marshall entered the league as an undrafted rookie.
Now Graham’s job is to find a similarly useful veteran for Wilson. If he can’t, the Bulls could look to develop that kind of complement through Dailyn Swain, who like Marshall is a Xavier product, or Jaylin Sellers, who has a chance to follow the same two-way-to-roster path Marshall once took.
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