Don't Expect The Chicago Bulls To Tank In The 2026-27 NBA Season

The Chicago Bulls are rebuilding.

There is no way around that. This is a young team with a new head coach, a new-look roster and plenty of questions about what the future is going to look like.

But rebuilding does not necessarily mean tanking.

In fact, the Bulls have plenty of reasons to avoid becoming one of the three worst teams in the NBA this season. The biggest reason might be the NBA's new Draft Lottery system.

Beginning with the 2027 NBA Draft, the league is implementing its new 3-2-1 Lottery, which is designed specifically to make tanking less appealing. The bottom three teams in the NBA will receive two lottery balls, while the seven teams that finish outside of the play-in tournament but above the bottom three will receive three. The bottom three will have just a 5.4% chance of landing the No. 1 pick, compared to an 8.1% chance for the teams immediately ahead of them.

That is a pretty significant change.

The NBA is essentially creating a race to escape the bottom three.

And the Bulls seem to have built their roster with that in mind.

Norman Powell was not brought to Chicago simply to be a floor-spacer and a veteran voice in the locker room. He can actually play. Nic Claxton was not brought in just to help the younger players learn how to be professionals. He is a legitimate NBA center who can impact games on both ends of the floor. The veterans were brought in to help this team win.

Those additions make a lot more sense when looking at the Bulls' season through the lens of the new lottery system.

Chicago does not need to win 45 games. It does not need to make the playoffs. It does not even need to make the Play-In Tournament for this season to be considered a success.

But getting out of the bottom three would be a pretty meaningful accomplishment.

And there is a legitimate path to doing it.

Start with Matas Buzelis.

Buzelis is entering his third NBA season and should be expected to make a significant jump. He has already shown flashes of the talent that made him a lottery pick, and another year of development could turn him into one of Chicago's most reliable offensive weapons.

Then there is Josh Giddey.

Giddey is still just 23 years old, but he already has years of NBA experience under his belt. He can rebound, facilitate and create offense in ways that most young players simply cannot. If he becomes a more consistent scorer and shooter, the Bulls suddenly have another player capable of helping them win games on a nightly basis.

And Chicago selected Caleb Wilson in the draft.

Wilson does not need to become a superstar as a rookie. He does not even need to average 20 points per game.

If he can come in and immediately provide energy, rebounding, defense and enough scoring to punish teams that overlook him, that could be enough to make a real difference.

That is the interesting thing about this Bulls team.

Its youth might actually be what keeps it out of the bottom three.

Buzelis, Giddey and Wilson do not need to be finished products. They just need to be better than expected. If all three take steps forward, Chicago could have enough young talent to win games while Powell and Claxton provide the veteran production necessary to keep the team from falling apart.

Finally, the Bulls brought in Tiago Splitter.

Splitter already overachieved with Portland last season. The Trail Blazers were not expected to be much of a threat, yet they finished 42-40 and made the playoffs. More importantly, Portland's defense took a major step forward. Over its final 41 games, the Trail Blazers ranked third in the NBA in defensive rating.

That is not something to overlook.

Splitter showed that he could take a young roster and build a team that competed much better than people expected. The Bulls are giving him another young roster with plenty of players who still have something to prove.

There is no guarantee he can do it again.

But don't be surprised if he does.

The Bulls don't have to become a playoff team this season. They don't have to rush their rebuild. They simply need to avoid becoming one of the three worst teams in the league.

With Buzelis, Giddey and Wilson continuing to develop, Powell and Claxton providing legitimate NBA production and Splitter coming off a season where he helped turn Portland into a surprisingly competitive team, that goal looks a lot more realistic than it did a year ago.

The Bulls are rebuilding. They just don't have to tank to prove it.