You've just got to hate No Man's Land in the NBA. 39-43 doesn't sound too too bad, but if you weren't a Chicago Bulls fan, their 2025 season probably felt way worse than it actually turned out. Honestly, even if you were, it might not have made much of a difference.
Let's get this out of the way: the Bulls are in a rebuild. By trading away Zach LaVine, Chicago finally committed to that path, at least nominally. Lonzo Ball and Nikola Vucevic are the only remainders of that hopeful core back in 2022, and both of their time in the NBA looks limited, either by age, health concerns, or both. The Bulls are moving on.
And while it feels icky, a 39-43 finish isn't the worst way to start the rebuilding process. However, what might scare fans even now is the fact that Josh Giddey, their 'prize' of the deal sending Alex Caruso to Oklahoma City (seriously 4D chess move from the Thunder, by the by), is in a contract holdout with the team. Even if the actual concerns for the moment are nothing terrible on their own, it is striking that Giddey remains one of the biggest names that are still formally un-signed to their teams, a list that (in)famously includes Cam Thomas. Pair that tension with the concerns around Lonzo Ball's health, Vucevic's age, and truly the rest of the roster looking as desolate as any in the league, and it should be enough to make Bulls fans quake.
However...
Every concern with the Chicago Bulls is overblown
Let's start with the contract tension with Giddey. He's certainly not going anywhere this season as an RFA, and as incredible as he was after the All-Star break, such a small sample size of growth is not a lot to go off of when discussing the future of a team. Look no further at Mikal Bridges' tenure with Brooklyn for confirmation in the negative. If nothing else, a one-year $11 million minimum deal might light a proper fire under Giddey to build off of the back half of last season, and if he does, no team would be happier than Chicago to truly sign him on. His situation bears no real risk to the franchise, even if it took Alex Caruso to get him (and truly, what is Alex Caruso going to do with a team bereft of star power?).
And the best part is, Giddey doesn't even have to be the crux of Chicago's future! No, their future lands square in the hands of upcoming sophomore Matas Buzelis, who, despite modest counting stats as a rookie, still finished seventh in Rookie of the Year voting despite starting in less than half of his games in the red and black. Should you need any confirmation of Buzelis' potential, look at his numbers per 36 minutes and 100 possessions. They reek of star potential.
Keep in mind, Chicago's dream scenario would be for both Giddey and Buzelis to pan out into high quality starters. And at the tender respective ages of 22 and 20, both have more than enough time to grow into those roles.
The rest of the team, for lack of better phrasing, sort of doesn't matter nearly as much as those two. You have your assorted role players, and the return of Lonzo Ball is a great story, but Chicago has all of the core pillars they need in Buzelis and Giddey (although, if Coby White cashes in on the flashes he showed in 2025 as well, watch the hell out). Even Vucevic's albatross of a contract will soon be a non-issue, especially if his upcoming performance in EuroBasket increases his trade value.
The next few years could be ugly -- but for a team that has felt like it's lived in No Man's Land for a few years now, the Bulls legitimately have a direction to go towards for the future. And that's better than most teams can expect. Should they plummet to the NBA's basement in 2026, it will all be worth it to see either Giddey, White, or most importantly, Matas Buzelis blossom into the cornerstone that Chicago has desperately missed since the prime of Derrick Rose.