The Bulls are approaching a critical juncture with their current roster construction. Chicago hasn't reached the postseason since 2022, and if Josh Giddey plays this season on the qualifying offer, he will join key players Coby White and Nikola Vucevic as unrestricted free agents in the summer of 2026.
With the Eastern Conference wide open, let's take a look at the best-case and worst-case scenarios next season for the Chicago Bulls:
Ceiling: No. 4 Seed in East
Given the massive injuries that have shaken up the Eastern Conference, the consensus regarding the projected standings for next season is that there is no consensus.
The Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks should once again be the top two seeds in the conference, fueled by returning star power. Beyond those two, the field gets a little murky. The Nos. 3, 4 and 5 seeds from a year ago — Boston, Indiana and Milwaukee — are all missing integral pieces to their success last season. The Celtics swapped Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis for Anfernee Simons, while superstar forward Jayson Tatum is set to miss the entirety of 2025-26 with a torn Achilles.
Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton and former Bucks guard Damian Lillard (now with the Portland Trail Blazers) are in the same boat after suffering similar Achilles injuries. Milwaukee nabbed longtime center Myles Turner from Indiana to replace Brook Lopez, meaning both rosters will look quite different from recent years as well.
That leaves a power vacuum behind the Cavs and Knicks. Most analysts expect some combination of the Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks to fill the void, but truthfully, those teams are young and largely inexperienced. With potential leaps from White and second-year forward Matas Buzelis, it's not difficult to imagine a scenario where the Bulls rise to meet the moment.
Chicago did go just 39-43 in 2024-25, but another year of cohesion as a unit could power the Bulls past the teams that are looking to find their footing without their respective star players. A lot of things would have to go wrong for their Eastern Conference foes, but receiving home-court advantage in a playoff series is certainly attainable for Chicago.
Floor: No. 12 Seed in East
On the other hand, if everything breaks right for the star-less teams and the young rosters develop faster than expected, Chicago could find itself tumbling down the Eastern Conference standings.
The Celtics still have Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. The Pacers still have Pascal Siakam and a supporting cast of role-players that was good enough to reach the NBA Finals last season. The Bucks still have a two-time MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo, who posted an absurd statline of 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.2 blocks and 0.9 steals per game while carrying Milwaukee on his back a year ago. Each of these rosters is still massively talented and could very well be good enough to contend with the Cavaliers and the Knicks.
Beyond those, the conference's next tier has a plethora of exciting young talents. Cade Cunningham led the surprising resurgence in Detroit last season, while the Hawks (Porzingis and Nickeil Alexander-Walker) and Magic (Desmond Bane) each picked up big additions over the summer that should immediately lead to wins.
Miami, Toronto and Philadelphia are the true wild cards. As long as the 76ers have 2024 MVP Joel Embiid, they're a threat to make the postseason, and the Heat are one of the best teams in the league at getting value out of their players. Toronto, amid a rebuild, has many promising players who could be bound for a breakout season.
It seems like the Bulls will never tank, as long as Jerry Reinsdorf is the team's owner. But if Chicago gets leap-frogged by the aforementioned teams in one of the weakest years of the Eastern Conference in recent history, the Bulls may have no choice but to pull the plug and fully commit to a rebuild.
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