The Chicago Bulls certainly had their work cut out for them this offseason.
After the old front office tore things down at the trade deadline, Bryson Graham inherited a team with a poorly-constructed roster and some high-value draft capital. Everything in between—from the drafting of Caleb Wilson and Dailyn Swain, the signing of Norman Powell, and the trade for Nic Claxton—has been his series of attempts to right the ship.
But 'righting the ship' in this instance doesn't mean bringing the Bulls back into playoff contention. The goal for 2026-27 should be to evaluate what talent there is on the roster while taking full advantage of the NBA's new 3-2-1 lottery system, which disincentivizes being near the bottom of the league's standings.
Powell is the perfect signing for that, and his two-year, $44 million deal could quickly prove to be one the offseason's smartest signings.
Norman Powell elevates the floor of this Bulls' roster immediately
The 'tank' in its traditional form may be gone across the NBA—or at least altered. Teams will no longer be scrambling to get to the bottom of the standings over the last couple months of the season as the lottery odds have largely been flattened.
The goal for the Bulls, then, should be to surround Wilson and their other players with capable talent and a consistent offensive structure. Powell can help provide that.
Across 58 games last season with the Miami Heat, Powell averaged 21.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists while knocking down 38% of his attempts from beyond the arc. He's a shooter through and through, and first and foremost, the spacing he provides will grant extra room to Wilson and Matas Buzelis to sort out the distribution of their downhill touches.
But Powell also provides something Josh Giddey hasn't had to this point in his tenure in Chicago—a veteran perimeter shooter next to him in the backcourt. Both Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu could hit their perimeter shots, but both were relatively streaky from beyond the arc. Having a volume scorer like Powell will allow Giddey to take a step back this season, honing in on his playmaking abilities and solidifying the structure of the offense as a whole.
But if things don't work out, he should have immediate trade value at the deadline
Again, "work out" is a loosely-defined term here. Even if Powell is highly successful in a Bulls uniform, his contract is designed for him to be dangled as a trade asset either at the deadline or in the offseason.
Teams looking or a capable starter in the backcourt or a floor-spacing sixth-man will certainly have interest in Powell, and his team option allows any interested organizations an attractive degree of flexibility.
There's multiple ways this can go. If Powell struggles, perhaps the Bulls hang onto him in the offseason and pick up his team option in order to use him as expiring salary in 2027-28. If he succeeds, perhaps they decide that his value to the organization and to Wilson's development is too great to let him go immediately. If the team is pushing for Play-In Tournament contention at the deadline, then moving on from Powell could also be an option to avoid accelerating the rebuild too early.
The Bulls, more than anything, have flexibility when it comes to Powell—and that's a valuable thing for an organization entering a rebuild to have in their possession.
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