The Chicago Bulls have a talented young backcourt with Josh Giddey (assuming he re-signs) and Coby White. They have a building block in the front court in Matas Buzelis. What the roster could use now is an infusion of young talent on the wing, and that could be accomplished if the Bulls grab Washington State's Cedric Coward with their 2025 NBA Draft lottery selection.
Coward's name is usually found in the 25-to-35 range of most draft experts' big boards and mocks. Based on that information alone, taking him potentially at No. 12 overall could end up being the most staggering development of the draft's opening night.
But there are several reasons Chicago needs to at least contemplate making what would become a massively controversial pick.
Bulls could shock the NBA on draft night by selecting ideal wing prospect
Chicago had eight players log minutes as a "wing" in 2024-25, as defined by Cleaning The Glass. One is Zach LaVine, who now plays for the Sacramento Kings. Emmanuel Miller played in two contests on a two-way contract. Talen Horton-Tucker is an unrestricted free agent. Tre Jones, also an unrestricted free agent, is a 6-foot-3 point guard. Lonzo Ball is versatile enough to play on the wing but is a guard. Dalen Terry fits that same profile.
That leaves Ayo Dosunmu, who played 46 games and will be a relatively pricey UFA after next year, and Kevin Huerter, who filled the role next to Giddey and White admirably down the stretch this season but is also entering the final year of his contract. Julian Phillips, who could, and arguably should, be considered a wing, played most of his minutes at the four, per CTG.
Huerter is the only "wing" still in Chicago who shot at least 38 percent from three.
Take a blind prospect taste test: Imagine a 6-foot-6 athlete with a 7-foot-1 wingspan who shot no lower than 38.3 percent from three-point range over his three NCAA seasons. This prospect stepped into Memphis Grizzlies' rookie Jaylen Wells' shoes at Washington State and averaged 17.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists with 56/40/84 shooting splits.
Does that sound like an appetizing fit between Giddey, White and Buzelis?
The above prospect, Cedric Coward, is being undervalued for several reasons. One, he played four years of college basketball, the first coming in Division III. He moved up to D1 for two seasons at Eastern Washington before taking Wells' spot at Wazzu but only played in six games before injuring his shoulder and missing the rest of the season.
Coward is a young senior, though, at just 21, and his career path so far points to a player who still has room to grow. Should he land in Chicago, that path could lead him to an immediate spot in the Bulls' rotation, given the team's positional need and his maturity level. And the Fresno native is starting to generate buzz among NBA front offices as the draft process moves along.
Zach Lowe and J. Kyle Mann of The Ringer discussed Coward on the latest episode of The Zach Lowe Show podcast, with Lowe dropping some inside information about how teams view Coward and that the former Cougar should expect to hear his name called earlier than the late-first round.
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic has Coward going 29th to the Phoenix Suns in his most recent mock, but even he calls Coward his "bet for this year's riser into the first round."
The consensus among teams and draft experts is that Coward projects to be at least a high-level role player as a plus athlete who can hit threes, and Mann and Vecenie both note that there's more room for growth despite Coward's age.
If the Bulls came away from this summer's draft with an athletic, knockdown shooter who has a high floor and upside still to tap into, it would be considered a win. If drafting Coward 10 to 15 picks too soon sends shockwaves through the league, so be it.