The Chicago Bulls' search for a new head coach is officially heating up.
After entering the offseason with a substantial amount of uncertainty, Chicago has etched out a distinct vision under new lead executive Bryson Graham. Graham, formerly of the Atlanta Hawks and New Orleans Pelicans, will be a major boon to Chicago's talent-identification and player-development processes.
With the 5th and 15th overall picks in the 2026 NBA Draft, the Bulls will soon be getting an influx of young, moldable talent. They now need to choose the right coach to take on that task.
In NBA Insider's Marc Stein's newsletter on Tuesday, it was made clear that Chicago is going to look at a wide array of candidates, ranging from former head coaches to younger assistants currently working on successful staffs. One of these candidates, Stein reported, will be former Pelicans head coach James Borrego.
Graham and Borrego overlapped during their time in New Orleans, so it's unclear what the extent of the relationship or temptation might be there. But no matter what, the Bulls must avoid Borrego as their next head coach.
The evidence we have is simply too incriminating.
James Borrego is a reasonable candidate, but he should not be the Bulls' next head coach
The Bulls were always going to cast a wide net in their coaching search. It's, therefore, not a major surprise that Borrego would be invited in for an interview, especially given his connections to Graham.
But a deeper look reveals why he shouldn't even advance past the initial stage of the process. He was, admittedly, thrust into a rough situation in New Orleans last season after the long-delayed firing of Willie Green. But even late in the season, with a relatively full complement of talent at his disposal, Borrego still struggled to rally his troops. The Pelicans lost 10 of their final 11 games this season, finishing with a 26-56 record and the fifth-worst record in the Western Conference.
It's important to note that they don't have their first-round pick this season, meaning that even a soft tank wasn't truly an option.
Even if we take a larger sample size, such as Borrego's four seasons as head coach of the Charlotte Hornets before his arrival in New Orleans, things don't look much better. Borrego led the Hornets to moderate success during his tenure, finishing with a 138-163 record across those four seasons. But after back-to-back defeats in the Play-In Tournament (including a 30-point shellacking at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks), it was clear that Borrego's time was up.
It's always possible to blindly lean toward younger, unproven coaches (like Sean Sweeney or Micah Nori) simply because they're exciting. But for the Bulls in this coaching cycle, their best option will likely be one of the promising assistants seeking out a promotion.
Borrego isn't that, and his track record should leave him largely outside of consideration for the job.
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