The Chicago Bulls have found themselves in a painfully familiar position. For the second time since 2020, the Bulls will have the No. 4 overall selection in the NBA Draft. That's inevitably caused many fans to question if the franchise is about to repeat its most painful recent mistake.
Thankfully, the 2026 NBA Draft couldn't be any more different from the 2020 event that saw Chicago select polarizing forward Patrick Williams amidst a sea of project players at the top of the board.
The similarities between 2020 and 2026 end with how certain the top three appear to be. Much as Anthony Edwards, James Wiseman, and LaMelo Ball dominated mock drafts in an interchangeable order, the trio of Cameron Boozer, AJ Dybantsa, and Darryn Peterson are doing the same six years later.
The difference between 2020 and 2026, however, is that the Bulls don't have to choose between unproven players whom teams were desperate to develop into the next Kawhi Leonard.
In 2020, Isaac Okoro and Williams—both of whom were top-five picks—highlighted the growing desire around the NBA to develop two-way wing talent. They also epitomized the flaws that evaluators were willing to overlook in the spirit of optimism, as Williams played just 22.5 minutes per game as a freshman and Okoro shot 29.0 percent from beyond the arc.
Rather than having to choose between players who never actually looked the part of a rising star, the 2026 Bulls will have the golden opportunity to pick between captivating prospects with ample film to praise and evaluate.
2020 NBA Draft was all about the project player, while 2026 is not
Even if all three of Boozer, Dybantsa, and Peterson are selected within the top three in 2026, the Bulls will have a long list of fascinating options to consider. That includes dynamic point guards Darius Acuff Jr. and Kingston Flemings, double-double machine Caleb Wilson, and three-level scoring guard Keaton Wagler.
The options range far beyond those four players, but each perfectly encapsulate how different the 2026 NBA Draft is from 2020.
Acuff, for instance, won SEC Player of the Year as a freshman and consistently looked the part of a three-level scorer and high-level playmaker. He averaged 23.5 points and 6.4 assists per game on .484/.440/.809 shooting, and led the Arkansas Razorbacks to the Sweet 16—where he scored 28 points against the 35-3 Arizona Wildcats.
Flemings, meanwhile, averaged 16.1 points, 5.2 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.5 steals on .476/.387/.845 shooting while leading the Houston Cougars to the Sweet 16 and displaying clear two-way potential.
2026 NBA Draft has a deep collection of proven and productive prospects
Wagler was right there with his fellow top guards, averaging 17.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 4.2 assists on .445/.397/.796 shooting while helping the Illinois Fighting Illini reach the Final Four. He scored 25 points during an Elite Eight win and tallied 20 points and eight rebounds in the Final Four.
Even Wilson, who's the closest amongst this group to enigmatic, played 24 games in 2025-26 and averaged 19.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game.
That in no way guarantees that any of these players will thrive in the NBA, but it proves how different the 2020 and 2026 classes are. 2026 is flush with players who thrived in a collegiate setting, playing demanding roles and having to showcase how real their potential is instead of simply relying on scouts' ambitious hope for growth during the pre-draft process.
It's easy to understand how skeptical Bulls fans are of having the No. 4 pick again, but they must take solace in the fact that this is an entirely different opportunity six years later.
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