The Chicago Bulls have several holes to fill on their roster as they retool around (for the moment) Josh Giddey, Coby White and Matas Buzelis. In a perfect world, they'll fill their most capacious hole with one of the 2025 NBA Draft's most enormous prospects: Duke center Khaman Maluach.
The Bulls played a lot of the Olé Defense last season. They gave up the third-most points in the NBA, but most painfully, they allowed the most points in the paint by a relatively wide margin.
Interior defense is the most critical weakness VP of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas needs to fix this offseason, and Maluach is capable of doing that, both immediately and long term.
Khaman Maluach 2025 NBA Draft scouting report
There are two things that stick out most about Maluach. The first is his sheer size. He's 7-foot-1, 253 pounds with a 7-foot-7 wingspan—the longest in this draft class—and a 9-foot-6 standing reach. He can be a rim-deterrent just by standing at the basket.
The second is how uniquely athletic he is for someone of his massive size. It's impossible to miss Maluach when he's running down the floor in transition; he's the largest player on the court, but he's often one of the first to go end-to-end.
His impact was felt far more than his statistical production during his lone season at Duke, when he averaged 8.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.3 blocks. It's worth noting that Maluach developed through the NBA Africa program, having been born in South Sudan and only started playing organized basketball at the age of 13.
Offense
Maluach's size, length and athleticism make him a near-automatic finisher at the rim. He shot 71.2 percent from the field and better than 75 percent from two-point range with the Blue Devils, most of those makes coming off lobs and easy dunks.
He's a good rim-runner in the pick-and-roll; he sets solid screens, seems to have a knack for when and where to roll and can get up and over nearly any defender once he gets close to the basket. The 18-year-old is also a dominant offensive rebounder. Of his 6.6 boards per game, nearly three came on the offensive glass. That adds to Maluach's efficiency.
He showed some shooting touch during his time with NBA Africa but only attempted four threes with the Blue Devils, though he did shoot a promising 76.6 percent from the free-throw line on 2.0 attempts per game.
Outside of what his size and athleticism give him, though, Maluach is very raw offensively, which has put off some of the more risk-averse franchises from picking in the top 10.
Defense
Maluach can step onto an NBA floor tomorrow and be a solid rim protector, but he has some development to do before he becomes a dominant shot blocker. He's still learning the game, which can lead to some blown assignments and missed opportunities to help from the weak side. Given his physical gifts, he should've racked up more than 50 blocks in college.
He's long and athletic but not necessarily the most agile big man, which can hurt him at times in a switching scheme. He can stick with forwards, wings and some guards, but quicker players will be able to turn the corner on him. Learning to correct some of his spacing issues would go a long way toward raising his defensive floor.
He's a solid rebounder, but not as good as you'd hope for someone with his size and quick jump ability. He snagged 12.4 boards per 40 minutes at Duke, but can get lost and out of position. He had zero rebounds in 21 minutes in last year's National Championship Game against Florida.
Khaman Maluach's fit with the Chicago Bulls
The Bulls are in desperate need of a rim protector. Maluach is the best one in this year's draft. He has a rare combination of size, length and athleticism. He's 18 years old and has only been playing basketball for five years, so he's raw but also has incredible untapped upside.
Chicago and Head Coach Billy Donovan would surely bring Maluach along slowly. Donovan kept last year's lottery pick, Matas Buzelis, out of the starting lineup for most of the season because he wasn't mentally ready to play defense at the NBA level. Maluach is even further behind than Buzelis was.
But the former Duke star would fill two critical roles the Bulls are craving: He's an interior presence on both ends, and he could keep up with Giddey, White and Buzelis in Donovan's transition offense. That makes Maluach a unique prospect and the best fit for Chicago in the entire 2025 draft not named Cooper Flagg.