Where do the Bulls go from here, after another lost season, with important decisions looming on the horizon?
For the fourth consecutive season and the eighth time in nine years, the Chicago Bulls will not be participating in the NBA playoffs.
The Bulls were officially eliminated from postseason contention following Friday night's 131-113 road loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Their record dropped to 29-44, clinching the team's worst mark of the Billy Donovan era. Chicago — which has nine games remaining in the 2025-26 regular season — has finished with fewer than 30 wins in an 82-game season just twice over the past two decades.
Friday's defeat means the Bulls can no longer reach the Play-In Tournament. Chicago has participated in the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament in three consecutive years, losing to the Miami Heat each time and failing to make the NBA Playoffs.
The Bulls' lone playoff berth since trading Jimmy Butler in 2017 came in 2021-22, when the group of DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic and Lonzo Ball led the team to a 46-36 record and the No. 6 seed. However, that squad fell to the Milwaukee Bucks in just five games, and Chicago has not returned to the playoffs since.
Mar 25, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Tre Jones (30) drives past Philadelphia 76ers guard Quentin Grimes (5) during the third quarter at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn ImagesIt's been a turbulent season for the Bulls, to say the least. The team began with a league-best 6-1 record before skidding back to .500. Chicago's roller-coaster ride continued with a seven-game losing streak and a five-game winning streak before eventually battling back to a 23-22 winning record in late January.
The NBA trade deadline threw the Bulls' roster into disarray when Chicago's front office finally decided to pick a direction, selling on expiring assets for draft capital and younger projects. It resulted in a winless February for the first time in franchise history as the Bulls lost 11 consecutive games.
March (5-8 record) has been more stable, but the franchise's long-term direction has already been set in stone. The Bulls are vying with the Milwaukee Bucks for the ninth-best odds in the NBA Draft Lottery, hoping for a stroke of good luck that lands the next franchise cornerstone to build around.
It's exceedingly likely that the next two weeks will raise more questions than answers. Will Billy Donovan leave his head coaching job to take the position at North Carolina? Will he step away from the sport entirely and reevaluate his future? Will Jerry Reinsdorf pull the plug on Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley? Or does the longtime owner trust his front office enough to give them a longer leash on the rebuild? Will players like Jaden Ivey, Leonard Miller, Collin Sexton and Anfernee Simons be back next season?
Regardless of what happens, the 2025-26 season has been a dumpster fire for the Chicago Bulls. The team's executives finally decided they were done with being stuck in the middle and did the right thing by selling at the deadline, but the miserable season and roster mismanagement should leave a bitter taste in the mouths of everyone involved with the Bulls moving forward.