Rob Dillingham represents a non-consequential pending decision for the Bryson Graham Bulls front office, depending on how things shake out for the Bulls in the 2026 NBA Draft and 2026 NBA free agency period. Dillingham has two seasons remaining on his rookie-scale contract, both team options.
The 2026-27 team option on Dillingham’s contract was exercised on Oct 18, 2025, by the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to Spotrac. Looking at Dillingham’s final contract season, the 2027-28 NBA season, the Bulls have a deadline of Oct 31, 2026, to exercise the team option on his final contract season. If the Bulls decline Dillingham’s option, he becomes a 2027 unrestricted free agent.
Dillingham is an opportunity cost the Bulls should avoid
At 6’2” and 175 pounds, Dillingham is undersized even for the point guard position, and positional size is a critical area for improvement on the Bulls roster. Shooting is another area in Dillingham’s game that is deficient, with career shooting percentages of 41.1% from the field and 32.4% from the field, per Basketball Reference.
To whatever degree Dillingham may be effective at collecting assists, it likely won’t matter if opposing defenses don’t respect his shooting. Defense will take away his passing reads and force Dillingham to shoot his way out of offensive possessions.
Worth noting also is Dillingahm’s minuscule 0.6 free-throw attempts per game, which could be an indicator of a lack of physicality on Dillingahm’s part when he has the ball. As Spurs guards Dylan Harper and Stephon demonstrated to great effect in the 2026 NBA Finals, an elite NBA guard must be able to weaponize two feet in the paint with either a made basket, an assisted open shot, or a drawn foul that creates free throws.
The 2026 NBA Draft is full of guards the Bulls can easily select to replace Dillingham at the 15th overall pick and essentially reset the clock to continue paying rookie scale salary beyond the 2027-28 NBA season.
Let’s also not forget the Bulls still have Tre Jones under contract for the identical number of seasons as Dillingham. So there’s a case to be made that the Bulls should eliminate the roster redundancies and give Tre Jones a nice raise in a bargain extension to be the Bulls locker room vet.
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