A lengthy history of accolades and success for the Chicago Bulls also makes for a lengthy list of player and team rivalries.
Throughout the history of the Chicago Bulls franchise, a number of successful seasons obviously led to a lot of development of rivalries. Mostly throughout the days for the Bulls in the 1980’s and 1990’s with all-time great shooting guard Michael Jordan running the show, the rivalries reached a peak. The Bulls won six NBA Championships in the 1990’s, of course largely thanks to the efforts of MJ and fellow star Scottie Pippen.
A list devised of the best NBA rivalries of all-time would have to include a number involving those 1980’s and 1990’s Bulls teams. The level of success to which, MJ, Scottie, and the Bulls found created a lot of hurdles for teams in the Eastern Conference that had to be consistently frustrating.
However, there are other eras in which the Bulls started to generate big rivalries. The Bulls ran into the blockade that was the Boston Celtics in the playoffs in the East in the 2000’s and early 2010’s. The Cleveland Cavaliers also took center stage in the 2000’s and 2010’s, with superstar forward LeBron James leading the way.
Former Bulls superstar point guard Derrick Rose and defensive standout center Joakim Noah brought about a lot of the rivalries that this team would be involved in during the late 2000’s and 2010’s.
Even the early years of the Bulls saw future Hall-of-Famers such as Jerry Sloan, Artis Gilmore, and Chet Walker develop fierce rivalries against opposition in the East.
Here’s a look into the five biggest rival players for the Chicago Bulls in the entire history of the franchise.