Not to beat a dead horse, but it’s time to give Mr. Ed the Rocky Balboa treatment. It is incredibly odd that the Chicago Bulls elected to completely sell off their entire selection of 2026 NBA Draft second-round picks for effectively cash.
All the while, rookie Cleveland Cavaliers guard Meleek Thomas was selected 34th overall in the 2026 NBA draft and proceeded to dominate the Cavaliers' summer league games, averaging 27.3 points per game, shooting 43.8% on 8.0 three-point attempts per game, in addition to hustling his way to 2.0 steals per game.
Thomas’ scalding hot summer league shooting may prove to be a huge opportunity cost paid by the Bulls to simply complete superficial cash transactions via second round picks.
It also didn’t help optics that Thomas personally gave the summer Bulls big buckets in the summer Cavaliers’ Friday defeat of the Bulls 100-91, with Thomas finishing the game with 24 points on 10/20 shooting from the field.
Yes, the Bulls likely would have needed a bit of maneuvering to move up the draft board to select Thomas at 34th overall, since the Bulls' first second-round pick of the 2026 NBA Draft was slotted at 38 overall.
However, excuses shouldn’t be made for the Bulls. They had two second-round draft picks in the 2026 NBA Draft in addition to seven surplus future second-round draft picks on top of their own future second-round picks. The Bulls had the ammo necessary to acquire Thomas if they chose to do so.
Perplexing motives in the Bulls’ new front office
Judging by the mea culpa, Bulls lead front office executive Bryson Graham offered as a public rebuttal on not selecting any second-round draft picks in the 2026 NBA Draft, Graham’s front office didn’t view Meleek Thomas as a Bulls draft board target.
Thomas, in his lone season of NCAA men’s basketball, played for the Arkansas Razorbacks and averaged 15.6 points per game while shooting 41.6% from 3-point range on 5.3 attempts per game.
Additionally, Thomas also averaged 1.5 steals per game for the Razorbacks. Overall, it appears that Thomas’ game didn’t miss a beat transitioning from college hoops to NBA summer league.
Why wouldn’t Bryson Graham target that type of production in a 19-year-old, 6’5” NBA prospect? Let’s leg-drop another dead horse one more time since we’ve got time before the 2026-27 NBA season starts.
The Bulls need shooting and could have used Thomas’ shooting in their lackluster summer league games. If the Bulls are truly committed to rebuilding the franchise from the ground up, they can’t afford the opportunity cost of passing up talent like Meleek Thomas.
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