Season Wrap: The 2025-26 Chicago Bulls

  • By Keston Paul

    Last Updated on May 6, 2026 11:01 pm by Keston Paul | Published: May 6, 2026

    The Bulls finished 31-51 and have the ninth-best odds at the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft Lottery on Sunday, May 10. Matas Buzelis had a big second half of the season, Leonard Miller was a bit of a revelation after being acquired from the Wolves and Josh Giddey could not fully meet expectations, but it was still a solid campaign. Jaden Ivey was acquired from the Pistons, but an unfortunate series of events led to him being waived. It was an eventful year.

    The Bulls are set for an overhaul in management with a new vision of how they want to build their roster.

    How’d It Go?

    The Bulls were their usual selves, being stuck in the middle until they “chose a direction” with a mild fire sale at the February 5 trade deadline. After the moves, the Bulls’ Vice President of Operations (at the time) listed five names as core players:

    Karnisovas including Isaac Okoro and Jalen Smith as “core players” to build around seemed a bit questionable at the time, and in conjunction with the limited draft capital the Bulls got for a number of players during the deadline and a poor record under his leadership, Karnisovas was dismissed. Pretty much, the issue was that Bulls waited too long to pull the trigger on moves, meaning teams were less likely to pay up for impending free agents at the 2026 trade deadline.

    The Bulls then appointed Bryson Graham as the new Executive Vice President of Operations, who has since proclaimed that a blueprint of “SLAP” is going to be their target — which are players with Size, Length, Athleticism and Physicality — and that those attributes are especially felt on the defensive end.

    Besides the change of management, there was the entire situation involving Jaden Ivey after he was acquired from the Pistons. He dealt with some knee injuries, and then after comments on social media, the Bulls chose to waive him.

    Also, head coach Billy Donovan stepped down after the regular season, but we will get into that next.

    Coaching

    The Bulls finished with a 31-51 record and the ninth-best odds for the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft Lottery. They posted an offensive rating of 112.2 (25th), a defensive rating of 117.4 (22nd) and a net rating of minus-5.3 (23rd). Their pace of 103.22 was the third-highest across the regular season.

    Donovan finished his Bulls tenure with a 226-256 record (.469) across 482 games in his six seasons. As a reference, in Oklahoma City, Donovan held a 243-157 record (.608) across 400 games in five seasons. That gives him a career record of 469-413 (.532) across 882 games and 11 seasons.

    We have not really heard much about the Bulls’ coaching search, as they only recently appointed new management to oversee their next era. Donovan has been linked to the vacant Magic job, but of course, there are no guarantees there.

    From what new EVP Thomas Graham has said, the Bulls will be looking to build something similar to the Thunder, Pistons, or even the Spurs. At least, those are the teams that most fit the “SLAP” outline, in my opinion. So, we should expect the next coach to provide defensive discipline and physicality, while having some creativity on the offensive end. This seems like a job that could go to a first-time head coach, as the Suns’ Jordan Ott would fit the mold of what the Bulls could be looking for, but obviously, he is not on the market. Many teams that have trusted that “next generation” of coaches have seen success, so don’t be surprised if this “copycat” Bulls management opts for a similar gamble.

    The Players

    Josh Giddey
    SG, Chicago Bulls
    SeasonTeamGPGSMPG FGMFGAFG% FTMFTAFT% 3PTM3PTA3PT% PTSREBAST STLBLKTO
    25-26 CHI 54 51 32.1 5.9 13.3 44.8 3.2 4.2 76.3 1.9 5.2 36.4 17.0 8.3 9.1 1.0 0.5 3.6
    24-25 CHI 70 69 30.2 5.3 11.4 46.5 2.5 3.2 78.1 1.5 4.0 37.8 14.6 8.1 7.2 1.2 0.6 2.9
    23-24 OKC 80 80 25.2 5.0 10.6 47.5 1.3 1.6 80.6 1.0 3.0 33.7 12.3 6.4 4.8 0.6 0.6 2.1

    ADP: 28.6/19.9 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 73/106 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 30/64 (8/9-cat)

    Giddey played a career-high in MPG, resulting in highs for points, threes, rebounds and assists as well.

    Giddey appeared in 54 games as issues with his left hamstring pretty much plagued him from the end of December through the rest of the season. Even with that in mind, Giddey was a bit up and down at the beginning of the season as well, but the hamstring undoubtedly muted some of his upside. Still, managers who drafted him for points-rebounds-assists (PRA) upside got what they were looking for, but the efficiency and turnovers were not great. For managers who punted both percentages and turnovers, Giddey was No. 17 per game and No. 59 by totals. He should remain the undisputed No. 1 option in Chicago unless the Bulls get some luck in the lottery or free agency, providing sturdy points, rebounds and assists once again, and maybe a healthy season allows for some slightly better efficiency too.

    Matas Buzelis
    SF, Chicago Bulls
    SeasonTeamGPGSMPG FGMFGAFG% FTMFTAFT% 3PTM3PTA3PT% PTSREBAST STLBLKTO
    25-26 CHI 77 77 29.2 5.8 12.5 46.3 2.4 3.1 78.6 2.2 6.4 34.9 16.3 5.8 2.1 0.7 1.5 2.1
    24-25 CHI 80 31 18.9 3.2 6.9 45.4 1.1 1.4 81.5 1.2 3.3 36.1 8.6 3.5 1.0 0.4 0.9 0.9

    ADP: 81.3/120.8 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 39/42 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 71/74 (8/9-cat)

    While the first half of the season was tumultuous for Buzelis, he got a chance to “blast off” after the trade deadline. Most of Buzelis’ season-long stats nearly doubled his rookie stats as he climbed from 18.9 MPG to 29.2 MPG.

    He averaged 15.0 points, 2.0 treys, 5.3 rebounds, 0.6 steals and 1.4 blocks as a top-100 player in the first 52 games of the season (28.3 MPG) before the trade deadline. The Bulls finally “chose a direction” at the deadline, which opened up opportunities for Buzelis to gain usage. In 25 games after the trade deadline until the end of the regular season, Buzelis was the No. 40/No. 42 (8-cat/9-cat) performer per game, averaging 18.9 points (.442 FG%, .800 FT%), 2.8 triples, 6.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.8 steals, 1.6 blocks and 2.6 turnovers in 31.2 MPG.

    Keep in mind that the Bulls were a small team post-deadline and there were a lot of teams not trying to win games, but Buzelis should be set for a big run as the likely No. 2 option on offense next season with his penchant for “cash counters” (threes, steals, blocks) being intriguing. Playmaking is a notable area needing a lot of growth and his 3P% (.349) could use some improvement as well, as he stockpiled volume to put up value in threes more than being an actually effective shooter.

    Tre Jones
    PG, Chicago Bulls
    SeasonTeamGPGSMPG FGMFGAFG% FTMFTAFT% 3PTM3PTA3PT% PTSREBAST STLBLKTO
    25-26 CHI 65 41 27.0 5.2 9.5 55.3 2.9 3.5 84.1 0.6 2.0 31.5 14.1 3.1 5.4 1.2 0.2 1.4
    24-25 CHI 46 9 19.7 2.8 5.2 53.8 1.2 1.5 82.1 0.4 1.0 39.6 7.2 2.5 4.2 0.8 0.2 0.8
    23-24 SA 77 48 27.8 3.9 7.8 50.5 1.3 1.5 85.6 0.8 2.5 33.5 10.0 3.8 6.2 1.0 0.1 1.5

    ADP: None/None (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 84/74 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 92/83 (8/9-cat)

    Jones started 41 of his 65 games this past season, producing career highs in points per game and FG%. Jones’ career FG% is .503, so anyone who has never paid much attention to that should not be highly shocked that he is an efficient guard, but it was still an outlier season. He logged 27.0 MPG en route to 5.4 assists and 1.2 steals for superb fantasy value all-around.

    In particular, Jones was amazing from March onward when he started all but one game, tallying 18.0 points (.569 FG%, .864 FT%), 0.9 triples, 3.7 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.0 steals in 27.9 MPG (22 games) for No. 57/53 (8-cat/9-cat) value per game. He had some minor ankle issues in the first half of the season, but 11 of his absences came in a stretch from late January into early February by virtue of a left hamstring strain.

    Collin Sexton
    PG, Chicago Bulls
    SeasonTeamGPGSMPG FGMFGAFG% FTMFTAFT% 3PTM3PTA3PT% PTSREBAST STLBLKTO
    25-26 CHI 68 22 23.7 5.3 10.9 48.5 3.2 3.8 85.5 1.6 4.1 40.1 15.4 2.3 3.3 1.1 0.1 2.1
    24-25 UTA 63 61 27.9 6.6 13.8 48.0 3.4 4.0 86.5 1.7 4.3 40.6 18.4 2.7 4.2 0.7 0.1 2.5
    23-24 UTA 78 51 26.6 6.5 13.3 48.7 4.1 4.7 85.9 1.6 4.2 39.4 18.7 2.6 4.9 0.8 0.2 2.1

    ADP: 138.7/136.5 (Yahoo/ESPN) | Total Value: 97/114 (8/9-cat) | Per-Game Value: 132/164 (8/9-cat)

    This is just a sneak peek of the Season Wrap. The entire roster is covered, as well as the Fantasy Star, Letdown, One to Watch and One Burning Question for this team.ย You’ll need to have an Ethos 360, All-Sport or NBA FantasyPass membership. Click here to learn more and sign up!ย Premium Access Required

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    May 6, 2026, 11:01 pm