Bulls schedule: Josh Giddey's 1st game against Thunder part of brutal start

The Chicago Bulls are hoping to get out of no man’s land by either making the playoffs next season or leaning into a rebuild, but no one is sure which. 

If the Bulls do surprise some people next season, it will likely be on the improvements of young players like Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Josh Giddey, who should all have larger roles.

Giddey will be keen to prove himself after being traded from OKC. He was reduced to playing second fiddle to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at point guard for the Thunder, working off the ball which is not his strength. 

Giddey showed some of his exciting upside and flaws in his recent Olympics performance, as he mostly put in solid work for the Aussies. 

The Bulls would love to put their backcourt of the future on the floor with Giddey and White but have the pesky issue of Zach LaVine hanging over them. That could change by the time the season starts, so we don’t really know what Bulls team we’ll be seeing in October. 

They will be tested early with a tough start to the schedule including a marquee matchup between Giddey and the OKC Thunder. 

Bulls schedule: Tough start could bury Chicago early 

The Bulls will be tested right out of the gate in October with five tough games, three of which are on the road: 

-10/23 @ New Orleans 7:00 PM CT 

-10/25 @ Milwaukee 7:00 PM CT 

-10/26 vs. Thunder 7:00 PM CT 

-10/28 @ Memphis 7:00 PM CT 

-10/30 vs. Magic 7:00 PM CT 

The Bulls have two tough road games to start the season against the Pelicans and Bucks, both who figure to fight for the top of their respective conferences. 

Then Giddey will get his first shot at his old team, unfortunately, it’s on the second game of a back-to-back, though it is at home. Giddey will be eager to show the Thunder what they gave up, and I’m sure Giddey’s old teammates aren’t going to show him any mercy, so this is an early must-see game for Bulls fans. 

Memphis will be a lot better this season with Morant back and improved health and the Magic are looking to climb up the East standings after some nice offseason additions. 

You can see the entire Chicago Bulls schedule here. 

If the Bulls aren’t careful, they could get off to an 0-5 start which may tip their hand towards finally trading LaVine and starting over for real.