Tuesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported the Chicago Bulls and center Zach Collins reached an agreement on a two-year, $17 million contract extension that keeps Collins in a Bulls uniform.
Free agent center Zach Collins has agreed to a two-year, $17 million contract extension to stay with the Chicago Bulls, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/alhbQe7gbk
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 1, 2026
The Bulls are projected to have $22.6 million remaining in cap space after signing Collins to a new contract extension, according to Keith Smith of Spotrac.
Because Zach Collins is signing an extension with the Chicago Bulls, it will eat into their cap space. (No timing this out to come after cap space is used.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) July 1, 2026
My new projected remaining cap space for Chicago is $22.6M with one standard roster spot open.
The return of Collins to the Bulls, coupled with the acquisition of center Nic Claxton, likely settles open questions the Bulls had at the beginning of their 2026 NBA offseason regarding their center rotation.
Also taking into consideration that forward Jalen Smith is capable of handling small-ball-5 minutes, the Bulls should be able to put a serviceable center rotation on the floor throughout the 2026-27 NBA season.
Collins’ biggest challenge since he arrived in Chicago has been his availability, appearing in only 10 games in what was intended to be his first full Bulls season, the 2025-26 NBA season. Assuming Claxton earns the Bulls’ starting center job, that may be reason enough to bring back Collins, assuming reserve minutes help with his availability.
Collins, in the long run, may prove to be more impactful in Bulls head coach Tiago Splitter’s team practices and serving as the locker room vet in Splitter’s locker room.
The Bulls still have more free agency work to do
Returning Zach Collins to the Bulls roster should help should obviously help the likes of guard Josh Giddey and forward Matas Buzelis, who have the most familiarity with Collins out of any player who’ll likely receive regular rotation minutes.
Collins’ nominal three-point shooting will be a huge question mark going into the 2026-27 NBA season, as he’s a career 33.4% three-point shooter on 1.9 three-point attempts per game.
However, Collins 10-game sample size, which was his entire 2025-26 NBA seasons delivered outlier three-point shooting from Collins, shooting 42.9% on 2.1 three-point attempts.
Ultimately, Collins won’t show up as a credible shooter on an opponent's scouting report, but the Bulls desperately need shooting wherever they can find it on their roster.
Two value-tier 2026 NBA unrestricted free agents the Bulls would have done well to acquire are all off the market: guard Luke Kennard, guard Tim Hardaway Jr. A third value-tier NBA unrestricted free agent the Bulls should work hard to acquire, Quentin Grimes, may already be on the way off the free agent market, according to reporting from The Stein Line.
The growing anticipation leaguewide is that the Lakers ultimately secure commitments on new contracts from Toronto free agent Sandro Mamukelashvili and Philadelphia free agent Quentin Grimes while still pursuing their top summer target: Utah restricted free agent Walker Kessler. https://t.co/pYMRcSyvrn
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 1, 2026
Regardless of Bryson Graham’s views on what problems he believes he should or shouldn’t solve in the 2026 NBA offseason, shooting cannot be neglected on this roster, given none of his presumed primary offensive options will project as volume three-point shooters during the 2026-27 NBA season.
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