For the Chicago Bulls, the goal in 2026-27 shouldn't be competitiveness—it should be maximizing and sorting out the talent they currently have on the roster while figuring out how to place themselves in prime position within the NBA's overhauled Draft Lottery.
For those who don't know, the NBA instituted new draft lottery rules this offseason, designed to mitigate tanking, that penalize teams with bottom-three records in their conference. Teams that fall in that category will receive just two lottery balls, whereas teams that miss the playoffs but finish outside of that zone will receive three. The seventh and eighth Play-In Tournament seeds will receive one ball apiece.
There are two contrasting thought processes for how Chicago can maximize their place within this hierarchy. Since you can no longer hold top-five picks in three consecutive years, there are those who believe the Bulls shouldn't worry about the relegation zone this season. Since the 2028 draft class is projected to be stronger than the 2027 crop of prospects, losing a top-five pick in this year's draft isn't a high price to pay. There are others who believe that it's in their best interest to maximize their chances at a top-five pick as long as they're in a rebuild, especially given the fluctuations and flattened odds implicit in the new lottery system.
I'm not going to issue a definitive judgement one way or the other here. But one thing I do know is that the Bulls, if things don't go according to plan this season, could very well play their way into that 'relegation zone.' If they ultimately want to avoid that, here are the three most vital developments that are going to need to take place over the course of the season.
3 developments the Bulls should be hoping for in 2026-27
1. Caleb Wilson becomes an immediately viable two-way contributor
Anyone with eyes can see what Caleb Wilson's ceiling is. He's a lengthy, highly athletic forward with a range on the defensive end of the court and a potential downhill game on the offensive end that very few prospects can truly match. But what is his floor heading into his rookie campaign?
If he's not consistently hitting his 3-point shots, there's a chance it's pretty low on the offensive side of things. He still looks slightly awkward with the ball in his hands, and it's going to take a while for him to fill out that lanky frame. Without Wilson acting, at the very least, as a consistent downhill scorer on a night-to-night basis, this Bulls offense will struggle to remain competitive.
The team's primary offensive options, at least to begin the campaign, will be Matas Buzelis, Norman Powell, and Josh Giddey. But they need Wilson to start acting in a greater capacity by mid-season if they're going to put forward any semblance of a complete offensive attack.
2. Matas Buzelis takes his next leap into stardom
Speaking of Buzelis, there's room to argue he's the true wildcard for the Bulls this season—not least because of his looming extension eligibility in the 2027 offseason. We saw him take a major leap last season, averaging 16.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 5.1 assists while knocking down 34.9% of his attempts from beyond the arc. He gained confidence taking the ball downhill and getting to his spots on the offensive end of the court, and although his 3-point shooting efficiency saw a slight dip, there were some promising flashes in that area of his game as well.
It will be interesting to see how Buzelis and Wilson sort out their balance of downhill touches, but Buzelis' next leap doesn't necessarily hinge on that. If he can hit his perimeter shots at a more consistent rate and provide the offense with the same complementary playmaking he did last season, we could see Buzelis fully step into the 'star' title in 2026-27.
It's hard to project him to take on more volume than he did last season, but efficiency and shot selection will be the big markers of another major leap for Buzelis.
3. Tiago Splitter figures out how to finally maximize Chicago's bench contributors
This is a more general aspect than the other two, but any chance the Bulls have of fielding a complete rotation rests firmly in Tiago Splitter's hands. He has an inspiring developmental background between Europe and the NBA, and the Bulls are almost overflowing with question marks, especially on the backend of the rotation.
Is Rob Dillingham an NBA-caliber guard? Does Patrick Williams have anything left in the tank? Was Dailyn Swain's horrid Summer League performance any indication of what we'll see from him during his rookie campaign? Do Noa Essengue or Leonard Miller earn enough trust to even crack the rotation in the first place?
The Bulls have the chance to move on from most of their short-term contracts next offseason. In the meantime, they need to put each of these players in positions to succeed (with a rehashed infrastructure on both ends of the court) in order to evaluate the talent they still have on the roster. There's a world where Splitter finds the right combination of parts and is able to field a pretty dynamic bench unit in Chicago. There's also a world where the bottom falls out of this rotation pretty quickly, leaving the Bulls staring a bottom-three finish right in the face.
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