The Bulls are heading into a season where the pressure point on the roster is easy to spot: center.
Chicago has enough in place on the perimeter and on the wing to feel good about the direction of the team. Matas Buzelis and Caleb Wilson look like the forwards of the future, and the Bulls have reasons to believe both can grow into major pieces. Buzelis took a real step in his second season, nearly doubling his scoring average, and he also gave Chicago some defensive juice with 1.5 blocks per game in the 2025-26 regular season.
Wilson brings a different kind of promise. He’s described as an impact player on both ends, the sort of talent the Bulls can build around as both an offensive and defensive leader. If his deep shooting from summer league carries over, that only makes him harder to handle.
Josh Giddey fits into that same encouraging picture. He stayed under the radar for a lot of people, but his 2025-26 regular season was a career year in both assists and scoring, finishing with 9.1 assists and 17 points per game.
With more scorers around him, Chicago should lean even harder into what he does best: create. The Bulls do not need him to carry the offense every night.
Something closer to 15 points per game would still keep him dangerous while letting the rest of the roster do more of the scoring.
Then there’s Dailyn Swain, who had a rough summer league but is still a player the Bulls clearly value. Chicago took him 15th overall, and after a strong final college season, the expectation is that he can become a meaningful contributor even if the adjustment to the NBA takes time.
That’s why the center spot stands out. With the guards and forwards looking more settled, it’s hard to picture the Bulls making a major move there. The more obvious place to focus is in the middle, where Nic Claxton has the clearest chance to separate himself from the rest of the roster.
Claxton has to make a stronger case this season than players like Buzelis and Giddey. If he proves he fits with Chicago’s young core - especially Giddey - the Bulls will have a real reason to keep him around long term. And if he can provide the kind of paint defense they need, that only strengthens the argument.
So while the rest of the roster appears to be taking shape, the center position remains the area Chicago should be thinking about next. If the Bulls are looking for another piece after the season, the draft could be the place to find it.
In Other News...
Josh Giddey Faces A Defining Bulls Fit Test This Season
Josh Giddey is heading into his third season with the Bulls with something bigger than a contract year or a box score check-in hanging over him. Chicagos front office and coaching staff are pushing a new offensive philosophy built around pace and ball movement, and that puts Giddey in the middle of a familiar modern NBA question: how much on-ball responsibility should a player keep when the system wants the ball moving faster and more often? For a team still trying to define its identity, his fit could be one of the clearest early signs of whether the approach is working.
The challenge for Giddey is less about talent than usage, and that is where the season gets interesting. Chicago does not need him to be the same kind of possession-starter on every trip if the offense is going to look the way the staff wants, which means the next step is finding the right balance between creating and complementing. If he can settle into that role cleanly, the Bulls may have a better answer for what their new offense is supposed to be. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Enter Camp With One Health Question Still Lingering
Training camp is opening with the Bulls still sorting out the health picture, and for most of the roster, the signs are encouraging. Around the league, several notable names have already offered upbeat updates, with Tyrese Haliburton saying he is fully healthy after his Achilles injury, Stephen Curry reporting no current limitations, Luka Doncic cleared after a hamstring strain and Bradley Beal working back from hip surgery while also managing knee inflammation.
For Chicago, the larger issue is less about the star power and more about how many bodies are ready to go once camp begins. Josh Giddey has no restrictions after offseason ankle surgery, which helps settle one question, but there is still at least one lingering concern in camp as the Bulls get set to start Tuesday. Of the teams health questions, this is the one that could matter most if it stretches into the preseason. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Just Sent A Clear Message About Where This Front Office Is Headed
The Bulls keep signaling a shift toward a younger, more modern basketball operations structure, and their latest move fits that pattern. Michael Reinsdorf announced the hiring of Bryson Graham into the front office, adding another voice to the basketball operations department as Chicago continues reshaping the way it staffs key decision-making roles.
Graham arrives with experience that should matter right away, having spent much of his career with the Pelicans before a run as vice president of basketball operations with the Hawks. For a Bulls organization trying to reset its internal direction, the hire says plenty about the kind of profile it is now targeting, even if the broader picture of how this new group will ultimately take shape is still coming into focus. [Read more 🡒]