chicago bulls: What You Need to Know (September 2026)

Chicago Bulls at a Crossroads: Why the Whole NBA Is Watching This Offseason

The Chicago Bulls finished the 2024-25 NBA season with a 27-55 record, good enough for one of the worst marks in the Eastern Conference and a front-row seat at the draft lottery. That combination of a broken roster, a lingering Zach LaVine situation, and a front office under pressure to finally commit to a direction has sent search interest in the Bulls spiking by more than 500 percent in recent days. Chicago hasn't been this talked about — for basketball reasons, anyway — in years.

The LaVine Question That Won't Go Away

Zach LaVine played just 25 games this season after undergoing left knee surgery in January 2024. His return was sluggish, his minutes were managed, and the trade rumors never stopped. At 30 years old and with three years and roughly $138 million left on his max contract, LaVine is simultaneously the Bulls' most valuable trade chip and their biggest obstacle to rebuilding. Teams around the league have been circling, and with the draft and free agency approaching, the Bulls face a binary choice: move him and accelerate a youth movement, or keep him and try to build a competitive team around him one more time.

Neither option is clean. Trading LaVine means eating into his value given the knee history and the contract. Keeping him ties the franchise to a player who has never led a team past the first round of the playoffs and whose availability is no longer something you can count on.

Coby White's Breakout Gives Chicago Something Real to Build On

While LaVine's future remains murky, Coby White gave Bulls fans something to feel good about. The 24-year-old guard averaged 19.2 points, 4.8 assists, and 4.2 rebounds per game this season, shooting 42 percent from three on nearly seven attempts a night. He was one of the better offensive guards in the East during stretches of the season, and he did it at a fraction of the cost of most of Chicago's veterans. His five-year, $120 million extension kicks in next season, which now looks like a bargain.

White is the kind of player teams have to build around when they find him — a lead ball-handler who can score off the bounce and shoot off movement. The question is whether the Bulls' front office, led by executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas, treats him as the foundation he could be or surrounds him with another patchwork veteran roster that goes nowhere.

Draft Position and What It Means

Chicago's poor record gives them a real shot at a top-four pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. The draft class has been widely praised for its depth at guard and forward, positions where the Bulls have obvious needs. Landing in the top five could mean adding a plug-in starter who develops alongside White rather than another stop-gap move.

• The Bulls hold their own first-round pick for 2025 — no strings attached.
• They also control a future pick from the San Antonio Spurs depending on conditions.
• A top-four selection would be the highest the franchise has picked since taking Derrick Rose first overall in 2008.

Front Office Under Pressure

Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley have faced steady criticism since the DeMar DeRozan era ended without a playoff series win. The roster construction has been uneven — trading for Nikola Vucevic in 2021 signaled a win-now push that never materialized, and the team has been stuck in the play-in zone or below ever since. Owner Jerry Reinsdorf, never one to force quick decisions, appears to be running out of patience with mediocrity.

This offseason is widely seen as the moment the Bulls either commit to a real rebuild with White and a lottery pick at the center of it, or risk drifting into another cycle of 35-win seasons that satisfy no one.

Why Fans Are Paying Attention Now

The draft lottery, free agency, and the LaVine trade market are all converging at the same time. Add in the nostalgia factor — 2025 marks 30 years since the Bulls' first title with Michael Jordan's second three-peat run — and you have a franchise that is everywhere right now. Chicago fans have waited a long time for a plan that actually holds together. Whether this front office delivers one is the story of the summer.