Former Chicago Bulls guard Rob Dillingham finds himself in a precarious NBA career situation as a now-former rookie-scale contract player, traded twice in one calendar year and now abruptly sitting in unrestricted free agency after the Charlotte Hornets waived him on Monday.
Memories are short in the business of the NBA, and Dillingham’s misfortune creates a wonderful opportunity for the Bulls’ two-way contract guard Jaylin Sellers to compete presumably for whatever roster minutes could have been allocated to Dillingham during the Bulls’ upcoming 2026-27 preseason contests.
Sellers, based on positional size alone (6’5” and 205 pounds), should figure to be a more impactful bench point guard than the diminutive 6’2” and 175-pound Dillingham. Aside from Caleb Wilson’s shooting, Sellers was arguably one of the bigger surprises in the Bulls' stretch of 2026 summer league games in Las Vegas.
Although the Bulls realistically should not go more than 10 deep into the bench once the 2026-27 NBA regular season starts, the Bulls' preseason games should be a prime showcase for Sellers to prove he not only belongs in the Bulls' player development plans, but also prove that he may be worthy of a main roster standard contract.
Sellers journey towards roster permanence
Barring a full-on out-of-body swap between Bryson Graham and Nico Harrison, Josh Giddey should be on the Bulls roster as the starting point guard unless Bryson’s standards say something different about Giddey’s game. Tre Jones is presumably locked in as Giddey’s primary backup.
Jaylin Sellers can still carve out a roster role for himself as a point guard because there are always injury risks, and Giddey spent the offseason recovering from a medical procedure on his right ankle. Meanwhile, one would expect Tre Jones to enter the 2026-27 NBA season with a vibrant trade market as an underappreciated veteran point guard on an extremely affordable contract.
The goal for Sellers should be to seize the moment in his preseason minutes and ensure that his moment-seizing starts on the defensive end. Sellers was a vocal presence in Las Vegas should be a trend he carries over into his preseason games. Bulls head coach Tiago Splitter made it explicitly clear during 2026 Chicago Bulls media day that the Bulls’ defense needs to be more aggressive.
Sellers can be the role model for what the Bulls' defensive identity should be today and going into the future. If Sellers can channel his talents and energy into big impact during the Bulls' preseason games, he could lay down the foundation for the Bulls to finally create their own homegrown player development success story.
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