The Chicago Bulls have spent the offseason remaking the top of the organization, adding Bryson Graham as the new lead voice, shuffling the front office around him and turning to Tiago Splitter as the franchise’s next head coach. They also got a huge boost from the lottery, jumping from No. 9 to No. 4 and landing Caleb Wilson, then grabbing Dailyn Swain at No. 15 with the Portland Trail Blazers’ first-round pick.
That haul, paired with Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey, gives Chicago a young core to build around. The Bulls also used cap space on veterans Norman Powell, on a team-friendly two-year deal, and Nic Claxton, whose contract descends, to help set the tone for the kids.
Development is the priority now, even if roster balance clearly wasn’t the main goal. This is a team that finished the 2025-26 season with a guard-heavy look, yet Graham has leaned in a different direction and loaded the roster with long, athletic wings.
That shift creates a crunch. Wilson, Buzelis, Swain, Isaac Okoro, Leonard Miller and Patrick Williams all spend most of their time at the three or the four, and Jalen Smith showed last season that he can work at power forward, too. There simply aren’t enough wing minutes to go around, which makes the Bulls’ most expensive forward a real problem.
Patrick Williams has more to prove than anyone on the roster.
The former No. 4 overall pick has never delivered the growth Chicago hoped for. Since entering the league in 2020, when he put up 9.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, his trajectory has gone the wrong way rather than up.
The issues show up in the same places over and over: handling the ball, creating offense and finishing with force. For all his size and athleticism, Williams has not been willing to attack contact at the rim, and his 37.2 percent shooting in 2025-26 was a career low.
There is one area where he has held up better. Williams has become a respectable shooter from deep, hitting 38.1 percent, a number few would have predicted when he came out of FSU.
But that alone is not enough to cover for the rest of his game. He does not create off the dribble, does not rebound aggressively and does not bring much value as a steals threat or weak-side rim protector.
At this point, he is the kind of player who can disappear in plain sight. He might put together a decent box score here and there, but the Bulls have younger players to develop and other wings who bring more energy on both ends. That makes his path to playing time narrow.
The old regime kept betting on him. Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley made Williams their first draft pick and later committed to him with a five-year, $90.0 million guaranteed deal, apparently believing that making him work was part of keeping their own jobs alive.
Bryson Graham does not carry that baggage. Williams may be the fourth-highest paid player on the cap sheet, but the new front office did not sign off on that contract and is under no obligation to let it dictate minutes.
If Williams stays on the floor, he will have to win the job. That is a tough ask with this group.
Wilson and Buzelis are going to take up major minutes. Swain is one of the players this front office targeted and should get a long look.
Okoro has not been a revelation, but he has consistently been better than Williams. Miller also surged in the second half of last season, gave the front office enough reason to pick up his option and fits Graham’s SLAP profile to a T!
There are a couple of paths where Williams could still find some space. Swain could log time at the two or spend a stretch in the G League, and Okoro’s lack of shooting might create a few openings. But even with those possibilities, Williams still looks like the least deserving wing of the bunch.
Maybe this is the summer when something changes. Maybe Splitter is the coach who finally gets through to him.
Right now, though, the Bulls are working from the evidence in front of them, and that evidence says Williams is more of a cap-sheet problem than a rotation piece. Chicago can live with that for now because it has financial flexibility, even with Williams on an $18.0 million salary through 2028-29.
The bigger question is what happens when Graham starts looking for more meaningful upgrades. It would not be a shock if trade chatter starts building around Williams, because moving his deal would only make Chicago a bigger force in the trade market and free agency. The catch is that dumping the contract would likely cost future assets, and the Bulls would rather not do that.
The most realistic outcome might be that another team with a bigger deal to make finds a use for Williams’ salary as matching money. Even that feels like a long shot.
For now, Chicago may simply be stuck carrying the contract. That is not an ideal place to be, especially if Williams is out of the rotation from the start.
Work your magic, Bryson!
In Other News...
Bulls Fans Can Finally Judge Bryson Grahams First Big Roster Bet
Bryson Grahams first offseason running the Bulls basketball operations office gave Chicago plenty to evaluate before training camp even gets rolling. He used the summer to reshape the roster around a young core, taking Caleb Wilson at No. 4 overall, adding Norman Powell on a two-year deal, landing Nic Claxton in a trade and bringing back Zach Collins, all while signaling that development would remain a priority for a team trying to move forward without boxing itself in.
The bigger question now is how those moves will hold up once the season pressure starts to build. The Bulls still have room to keep tinkering before opening night, and the way Graham has approached the roster suggests he wants options as much as immediate help, which means the real judgment on this first big bet may not come until the front office decides whether to stay patient or make one more move. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Offseason Pivot Around Patrick Williams Just Got More Serious
The Bulls offseason has already turned into a search for ways to reshape the roster around a younger core, and Patrick Williams has emerged as one of the more notable names in the conversation. Chicago has been weighing different trade scenarios with teams such as the Clippers and Kings, using Williams contract and uneven production as part of a broader effort to improve the roster without waiting for internal growth alone.
What makes the discussion more interesting is the direction of the Bulls interest. The front office is not just looking to move money around or add another stopgap piece, but is trying to land a player who better fits the timeline and, in the process, collect added draft help. Until a deal actually gets done, the Williams chatter remains part of the larger offseason pivot, but it is a strong signal that Chicago is prepared to be more aggressive than usual. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Suddenly Have A Dailyn Swain Problem They Can't Ignore
Dailyn Swains first run with the Bulls did not do much to quiet the questions around his long-term fit. Over four Summer League games, the rookie struggled to finish plays cleanly and never found any real rhythm, with erratic ball handling and shaky decisions making it hard to see an immediate path to steady NBA minutes. For a team looking to sort out the back end of its roster, that kind of showing matters, even in a setting where growth usually counts more than results.
The Bulls still have preseason chances to get a clearer read on how far Swain has to go and whether there is a role for him sooner rather than later. For now, the bigger issue is development, and there is already a sense among observers that a stint in the G League may be the best next step before he can be trusted with meaningful playing time in Chicago. [Read more 🡒]