Key Chicago Bulls Training Camp Battles to Monitor: Fifth Starter

Michael Walton II

Oct 4, 2025, 19:17

Michael Walton II

Oct 4, 2025, 19:17

Updated at: Oct 4, 2025, 19:17

The Chicago Bulls head into the 2025-26 season with a plethora of interesting training camp battles to monitor as the regular season fast approaches. Now just to be clear, with a lot of young players and good vibes at the Advocate Center, the competition in training camp has been great, with a lack of animosity as the players try to find their role in what looks to be a deep rotation. But nonetheless, everyone can't see the floor, but this current Bulls team doesn't have a ton of clear-cut players who won't play. With all of that being said, here are the most interesting training camp position group competitions I believe are taking place behind closed doors.

The Fifth Starter (Isaac Okoro , Kevin Huerter, Ayo Dosunmu)

This is the only training camp battle I can assure all Chicago Bulls fans care about. The Bulls presumably come into the season with four starters locked in: Coby White, Josh Giddey, Matas Buzelis, and Nikola Vucevic. The fifth starter could go in any number of directions.

Donovan could go with Kevin Huerter, the sharpshooting guard who rediscovered his form in Chicago to the tune of 37.6% from 3-point range over 26 games (16 starts). The advanced numbers loved lineups with Huerter in them, finishing with a +5.2 Net Rating over 134 minutes.

The player that I actually believe with be the fifth starter is Chicago-native Ayo Dosunmu. Coaches are creatures of habit, and Dosunmu has a familiarity with Donovan that both Huerter and Okoro don't possess yet. Dosunmu started 26 games for Donovan last season, playing 30% of his minutes at SF per Basketball-Reference.

Last season Dosunmu regressed as a 3-point shooter, shooting 32.8% from deep, but otherwise fit well in the up-tempo system averaging career highs in points and assists. He has a wealth of experience playing the point guard through the high school and college ranks, and has played shooting guard and small forward majority of the time his past two season in Chicago. Dosunmu's Swiss Army knife-like versatility will make him too useful to a Bulls team that has a lot of players with very specific skill sets.

The theme of training camp and the Bulls overall messaging has been "physicality," with playing tough defense being the central focus of their efforts to become a better team overall. With that being the message, it would make sense to expect the newly acquired Isaac Okoro to start. But, at the same time, Dosunmu is also one of the three-to-four Bulls you could classify as "defense-first" players. Dosunmu also brings the element of being one of the fastest players on the team in terms of getting end-to-end, and one of was one the best finishers on the team at 66.3% on 4.1 FGAs per game in the restricted area. I fully expect one of the three of Okoro, Huerter, or Dosunmu to be the fifth starter, and I expect Donovan to go with the player he knows best.

Key Chicago Bulls Training Camp Battles to Monitor: Fifth Starter

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