On Monday, the Chicago Bulls announced that they hired former Atlanta Hawks Senior Vice President Bryson Graham to be their new Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations. The selection of Graham came as a bit of a shocker, as most of the smoke was hinting at current Minnesota Timberwolves General Manager and former Bulls employee Matt Lloyd landing the Bulls gig.  

The 39-year old Graham steps into the Bulls job as one of the youngest executives in the league. He has a ton of tools to work with to get the franchise moving in a cohesive and positive direction. 

With Graham officially entrenched as the man in charge in Chicago, we decided now was as good of a time as any to rank the assets he will have to work with as he looks to get the Bulls back on track.

It all starts here. The Bulls are armed with two top-15 picks in the 2026 NBA Draft, a class that is loaded with intriguing talent. Obviously, the NBA Draft Lottery on May 10th will signify just how ambitious Graham can get. But either way, Chicago stands as the only NBA team with multiple picks in the top-15. 

Chicago's two 1st round picks and two 2nd round picks give them the flexibility to move up or down depending on team needs and how the board falls.

The Bulls probably need to be thinking best player available.

Based off of my personal Big Board, Chicago has a chance to come with away with two top-10 talents in terms of prospects like Brayden Burries, Darius Acuff, Kingston Flemings, Labaron Philon, or Yaxel Lendeborg.

If Chicago gets extremely lucky and jumps into the top-four, they will have the ability to trade off that 15th overall pick knowing that they are guaranteed a blue-chip prospect with their first pick.

Conversely, Chicago could jump into the top-four and decide to hold onto their 15th overall pick, knowing they have a chance to take more of a swing or address a need at that stage of the draft. 

There are many avenues to the Bulls becoming a solid franchise again, but almost every path starts with Chicago stockpiling young talent until they can find their "star."

Which leads us to the next way Chicago can address that issue....

The average fan thinks of salary cap space as a way for their favorite team to sign  free agents, but there are more creative ways to utilize cap space, and the Bulls will have a lot of it. Chicago currently projects to have the most cap space of any team in the league.

Graham can use the Bulls cap space to take back big contracts that teams are looking to get rid of, picking up draft capital in the process.

While these big contracts usually come in the form of players such as Houston Rockets forward Dorian Finney-Smith ($13.3 million per year), it could also come in the form of a disgruntled superstar such as Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant ($42.1 million in 2026-27). 

The Bulls should use that cap space to add a starting-quality center and shooting to the roster, but if an opportunity arises to use their cap space to acquire draft capital for the simple cost of eating a big money contract, they should pounce on it. 

I am actually quite impressed with Josh Giddey's development since he was traded to Chicago.

Giddey--while not a knockdown shooter--has been a capable floor spacer. Of course, there is a big gap between "capable" and "great," but Giddey is up to 37% from 3-point range on 4.5 attempts per game over two years with the Bulls.

He still isn't much of a threat from 3-point range off the dribble, but has nonetheless come a long way.

This season Giddey posted a massive 41% assist rate, and put up career-high numbers in points (17), assists (9.1) and rebounds (8.3) per game. He tied for second in the league in triple-doubles with 13. 

His $25 million per year figure may still be high for some contending team's payroll, but Giddey has played his way into being an intriguing trade chip should Graham look to make a bold move.