As of Wednesday, the Chicago Bulls sit at 14 active main roster contracts, factoring in the pending official announcements of the acquisitions of guard Norman Powell and center Nic Claxton. The glaring need in the 2026 NBA offseason edition of the Bulls roster rebuild is shooting.
Given the Bulls' likely avenue to fill the 15th active main roster spot will come via their mid-level exception, either the $9.4 million room exception as a cap space team or $15 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception for teams operating over the cap and under apron restrictions, the Bulls should seriously consider signing unrestricted free agent forward Jett Howard as a shooting solution and an upside play given he’s going into his age 23 NBA season.
Howard finished his rookie-scale NBA contract with the Orlando Magic at the conclusion of the 2025-26 NBA season after the Magic declined the team option on the 2026-27 NBA season of his contract, making him a 2026 unrestricted free agent.
The physical profile Howard presents at 6’8” and 215 pounds should be ideal for the Bulls, given the emphasis on positional size that Bulls lead front office executive Bryson Graham has touted as a roster-building priority.
Re-drafting Jett Howard to the Chicago Bulls
Jett Howard in a Bulls uniform would instantly become full circle irony as the draft pick the Orlando Magic used to select the one-and-done Michigan Wolverine was a surplus draft pick when the Magic shipped Nikola Vucevic to the Bulls for multiple first-round draft picks, center Wendell Carter Jr., and forward Otto Porter Jr. during the 2021 NBA trade deadline.
Additionally, the circular continuity of Vucevic returning to the Orlando Magic as a 2026 unrestricted free agent would probably bring a smile to former Bulls lead front office executive Arturas Karnisovas.
Howard’s first three seasons on the surface appear to be uninspiring. Yet, the premise of signing Howard as an unrestricted free agent is less about paying him for his NBA track record and more about paying him as a player development re-draft project.
It helps that Howard demonstrated a strong three-point shooting profile in his single season of NCAA men’s basketball at the University of Michigan. Howard shot 36.8% on 7.3 three-point attempts per game during the Wolverines 2022-23 NCAA men’s basketball season, according to Sports Reference.
On a per-game basis, Howard’s three-point volume has yet to translate to the NBA, as his career three-point attempt average is 2.7 three-point attempts per game, according to Basketball Reference.
However, in his third and final season with the Magic, Howard made a breakthrough in his three-point shooting accuracy, posting a 37.2% three-point shooting percentage in 55 regular-season games of the 2025-26 NBA season.
Signing Howard to the Bulls would ultimately amount to a player development experiment to determine how much of Howard’s career 7.5 three-point shot attempts per 36 minutes can translate into a higher per-game three-point volume while also maintaining at least league-average three-point shooting.
Add us as a preferred source on Google