The Chicago Bulls may not be headed for a playoff run next season, but that doesn’t mean they can afford to bottom out. Under the NBA’s new draft lottery setup, the danger isn’t just missing the postseason - it’s landing in the league’s bottom three and watching your odds at the top pick get worse. That’s where Caleb Wilson comes in.
Chicago has put together a respectable starting group for next season, with Josh Giddey, Norman Powell, Matas Buzelis, Wilson and Nicolas Claxton projected to make up the first five. Giddey, Powell and Claxton bring steady production, while Buzelis is still on the rise.
But Wilson is the player who could change the whole temperature of the roster. If there’s a future star on this team, it’s him.
That’s why the Bulls need Wilson to be more than just a promising rookie. They need him to help them win enough games to stay out of the draft lottery’s so-called relegation zone.
In this format, 16 teams can still land the No. 1 pick, but the three worst teams are penalized with worse odds. The two losers of the first Play-In Game get one Ping-Pong ball, the ninth and 10th seeds in each conference get two, and the fourth-worst through 10th-worst teams each get three.
The bottom three, though, only get two balls. That puts them in the same spot as the ninth and 10th teams in each conference, and for a team trying to maximize its draft position, that’s a bad place to be.
For Chicago, the mission is simple: avoid that group. And Wilson is the one who has to help make it happen.
The No. 4 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft doesn’t need to become an instant superstar, but he does need to be good enough right away to affect winning. The Bulls have scoring, playmaking, defense and rebounding around him. Now they need their rookie to give them enough lift to keep from sliding into one of the league’s worst three records.
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Noa Essengue arrived in Chicago with plenty of intrigue as the Bulls 2025 first-round pick, and summer league was supposed to be the first real look at how his game might translate. Instead, the conversation has quickly shifted to recovery, with the rookie working back from shoulder surgery and still trying to get all the way to full strength before he takes the floor in Vegas.
Essengue says he is close to ready, but the Bulls have not yet mapped out how much he will play in summer league, leaving his return timeline a little hazy for now. Head coach Tiago Splitter has made clear he likes the versatility Essengue brings when he does return, which only adds to the anticipation around a player Chicago badly wants to see healthy and moving like himself again. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls New Era Suddenly Comes Down To One Lineup Decision
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Bulls Face A Telling Choice As Familiar Veteran Reenters The Picture
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DeMar DeRozans name naturally brings back memories of his productive run in Chicago, when he gave the team a reliable half-court scorer and steady veteran presence. But the fit question is different now, and the Bulls have been pushed toward preserving flexibility and future assets instead of leaning on another established scorer, which makes this a telling decision point for a team trying not to drift from its plan. [Read more 🡒]