On Saturday, Keith Smith of Spotrac reported the Chicago Bulls exercised forward Leonard Miller’s $2.4 million club option for the 2026-27 season of his contract, which will make Miller an unrestricted free agent during the 2027 NBA offseason.
The Chicago Bulls have picked up their $2.4M team option for Leonard Miller, a league source told @spotrac.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 27, 2026
Miller was extension eligible, and the Bulls' decision not to extend Miller during the 2026 NBA offseason now puts Miller on the clock to effectively win an audition to continue his NBA career in a Chicago Bulls uniform beyond the 2026-27 NBA season.
After quickly becoming a fan favorite in the meandering post-2026 NBA Trade Deadline portion of the Chicago Bulls' 2025-26 regular season, it appeared that Miller’s on-court play set him up for an expanded role in the Bulls' 2026-27 season plans. That logic went out the window once the Bulls executive responsible for acquiring Miller, Arturas Karnisovas, was fired and replaced with Bryson Graham.
One can reasonably conclude from this news that Leornard Miller hasn’t sold the new Bulls front office regime on his long-term roster fit, yet.
Considering the Bulls just increased the depth of their front court with the addition of rookie Caleb Williams, in addition to guard Dailyn Swain, who has the length to slide up to a forward position, Miller has serious competition in front of him if he wants to remain on the Bulls roster beyond the 2026-27 season.
Miller’s game plan for a Bulls extension starts on defense
Bryson Graham has made his view of the Chicago Bulls' identity incredibly unambiguous. Graham is building a roster that is expected to be great on defense, players one through 15. At 6’10” and 220 pounds, Leonard certainly has the size and length to make solid team defense contributions to the Bulls.
Miller’s defensive effort in the non-quantifiable areas of basketball defense needs to shine because he didn’t demonstrate a prolific amount of results in defensive counting stats in his 27 Bulls games of the 2025-26 season. Post 2026-NBA Trade Deadline Miller averaged 0.5 steals per game and 0.6 blocks per game, according to Basketball Reference.
Miller’s hands need to force deflections, his feet need to move to take away driving lanes, and he should do everything in his power to make himself unscreenable when he isn’t switching ball screens. Aside from defense, a sure-fire way for Miller to play himself into a Bulls extension is to put in work during the 2026 NBA offseason to make himself a volume three-point shooter.
Leonard Miller was a modestly effective three-point shooter for the Bulls during the 2025-26 season, converting 35.6% on 3.2 three-point attempts, and both his three-point percentage and attempts need a healthy boost next season to help him stand out on a Bulls roster that needs shooting.
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