The 2026 winds of NBA season change have blown through August and into the month of September, a period on the NBA calendar in which some rosters elect to hold player-led mini-camps for team bonding ahead of when formal NBA training camps typically start at the end of September.
Chicago Bulls team bonding has been sporadic throughout the 2026 offseason, aside from the ongoing Caleb Wilson & Matas Buzelis sightings throughout the city of Chicago.
The Bulls' roster building, on the other hand, has been methodical for some Bulls fans and pedestrian for other Bulls fans. Barring some massive roster shakeup, the Bulls could be done with offseason roster changes for now.
A massive roster shakeup is rarely ever a predictable occurrence in the NBA in the mid-2020s; ask Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers fans.
Bulls lead front-office executive Bryson Graham has largely preached patience and flexibility in his early-phase roster moves, eschewing handing out long-term salary or acquiring player salary in excess of two seasons.
It begs the question: what would it take for Bryson Graham to finally entertain making his first big move as the head of Bulls basketball operations?
In case Graham doesn’t have an answer yet, there’s a curveball idea that Graham and his staff should consider, and it should principally focus on a swap of guard Josh Giddey for Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero.
Redesigning the Bulls’ roster blueprint with Paolo Banchero
As a preamble, there’s a reimagining of Banchero’s NBA game that he would need to - and frankly should be considered a prerequisite to a hypothetical trade to the Bulls: evolving into an NBA center. The elephant in the room about Banchero is his underwhelming shooting ability, four seasons into his NBA career.
Banchero’s career true shooting percentage is 54.8%, which translates to a 95 adjusted true shooting percentage (100 is league average), according to Basketball Reference. Banchero's shooting is a major problem for a high-usage primary option wing. As a center, there’s much more grace to apply to Banchero’s lack of jump-shooting skill.
Necessary motivations to make this deal happen
Obviously, the Magic would need to reach a point with Banchero in which they no longer see the Duke University product as a viable core piece within their roster.
After three consecutive first-round playoff series defeats, culminating in the 2026 NBA playoffs, there certainly should be elevated scrutiny of the Magic’s roster build going into the 2026-27 NBA season.
Paolo Banchero on losing in the first round again:
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) May 3, 2026
“It’s frustrating being in the same spot 3 years in a row getting the same result… Losing in the 1st round is not acceptable. It’s not good enough and that should be the attitude” pic.twitter.com/ppXKIGxJQr
Add to the mix that Banchero will be extension-eligible during the 2028 NBA offseason, and the Magic are projected to be $14.5 million under the first apron for the 2028-29 NBA season, according to Spotrac.
If the Magic continue to hit a low playoff ceiling, perhaps that creates a Banchero trade market that either the Magic or Banchero himself chooses to explore.
The Bulls offering Giddey, salary filler, and some modest protected draft capital (one or two picks could be an enticing enough offer to give the Magic an opportunity to reset their roster, presumably around forward Franz Wagner and guard Desmond Bane, with Josh Giddey adding a transition offense component that would benefit a shooting-starved roster like the Magic.
The benefit to the Bulls’ roster rebuild
Adding Banchero to forwards Matas Buzelis and Caleb Wilson would create a versatile frontcourt that could form a formidable offensive attack if Banchero were to buy into playing a low-post center role as opposed to the creator role he’s served in Orlando.
Ultimately, a move like this would be about increasing the Bulls’ starting roster size to compete against ever-increasing frontcourt size across the NBA.
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