The Chicago Bulls secured a top-four selection in a talent-heavy class, handing new EVP Bryson Graham a cornerstone asset to kickstart the rebuild.
Bryson Graham said last week the plan kicks off from the draft — straightforward, and it makes a lot of sense. Everyone can draw up a blueprint in the office. What matters most is the assets to feed those ambitions.
Everything looks a lot brighter now.
On Sunday, the Chicago Bulls landed the No. 4 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery, held in Chicago, of all places, giving Graham a better foundation to kickstart his rebuilding scheme than anyone could have reasonably expected a month ago. Known that this draft class is loaded with generational talent, the timing couldn't have been more perfect.
"Oh man…I almost fainted," Graham told the media after the result revealed on Sunday. That's not an exaggeration. The Bulls had only a 20.3% chance at a top-four pick, and fortune rarely smiles on this franchise. The Bulls brought back championship legend and Hall-of-Famer Toni Kukoc for the occasion — and whatever sacredness or superstition that carried into the room, it worked.
When was the last time the whole city felt this kind of electricity over a draft pick? You'd have to trace back to 2008, when the Bulls defied a 1.7% probability to land the No. 1 selection. That stunning moment wrote itself into franchise history when Chicago took its homegrown kid, Derrick Rose — out of Englewood, Simeon Career Academy and later a year at Memphis — and built an era around him. Sunday felt like a distant echo of that night.
"We got lucky," Graham said plainly. "I'm of the thought that it doesn't matter where we pick — we're going to get the best player. But the odds working in your favor today does help."
So who is the best player at four? Honestly, it's hard to separate the elites at the top of this class, featuring legitimate franchise-altering talents AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson. But realistically, the three teams picking ahead of Chicago, the Wizards, Jazz and Grizzlies, will likely absorb the first three names off that list. Whoever remains, and whoever the Bulls find no reason to skip, becomes their guy.
That's not a bad problem to have.
And the No. 4 pick isn't the only asset in play. The No. 15 pick, secured from the Trail Blazers after Portland did the Bulls a favor by clinching the playoffs, gives Chicago a second meaningful swing in June. That slot becomes especially interesting when you factor in what this roster still needs — frontcourt help, specifically — and how Graham chooses to address it between now and draft night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
But before the scouting and evaluating process fully kicks off, Graham still has his own crew to finalize — a general manager aside, a head coach and the rest of the front office or sideline infrastructure. The foundation is being poured. Sunday just made it a whole lot more exciting.