Chicago Bulls receive a disappointing grade to compete for the 2025-26 title: Analyst

The Chicago Bulls could have a chance to make the playoffs this upcoming season, with the Eastern Conference somewhat open due to injuries. The Bulls still have work to do before the 2025-26 season starts, and that begins by getting a deal done with guard Josh Giddey, who remains unsigned.

Signing Giddey is priority number one if the Bulls hope to break their play-in tournament streak of three consecutive seasons (2022-2025). Having Giddey on the team to pair with Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue is crucial to developing good team chemistry moving forward and ending that streak.

However, a deal for Giddey is still not close to getting done, and with little done in the way of free agency, the Bulls could be looking at another year of play-in tournament purgatory or missing the playoffs entirely.

The Chicago Bulls could be in for another year of the play-in tournament

The Bulls could prove everyone wrong and be one of the better teams during the 2025-26 season if they sign Giddey and don’t trade away players like Coby White and Nikola Vucevic. However, Vucevic and White enter the last years of their contracts and will likely be on the block if the Bulls fall out of contention (which is possible with injuries) or if it makes sense to do so to make them more competitive for the 2026-27 season.

NBA analyst Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report noted this when ranking every NBA team’s chances to compete for the title heading into next season. Swartz believes the Bulls will be a play-in team or miss the playoffs entirely based on their trading away one of Vucevic/White, or both.

Swartz also mentioned that when giving the Bulls a rating of “D,” Buzelis needs more polish to his game. With White and Vucevic’s contracts off their books, the Bulls will have a better financial position for the 2026-27 season.

Swartz’s justification for a “D” rating (via Bleacher Report):

“There’s reason for optimism in Chicago this season, although there’s a far greater chance the Bulls’ season falls apart instead of making a deep playoff run.

Josh Giddey has yet to sign a new contract. Coby White and Nikola Vučević are entering the final season of theirs. Matas Buzelis is going to be a really good starting forward in a few years but needs more polish. The shine on Patrick Williams has officially worn off.

This is a franchise that should be shooting for title contention in 2026-27 coming off a summer where they project to have maximum cap space.

The Bulls may not even be a play-in team this season, especially if White gets traded at some point during the year.”

2026-27 seems to be the Bulls’ year to compete

Unless the Bulls catch fire and remain relatively healthy for next season, it will likely be a repeat of last year. Thankfully for them, the rebuild seems to be progressing well and could get better if Essengue shows growth this season.

The Bulls are wasting an opportunity to take advantage of the situation in the Eastern Conference, but that’s been their modus operandi since VP of Basketball Operations Artūras Karnišovas and general manager Marc Eversley took over. Maybe things will change, but that doesn’t seem likely.