Should Bulls Commit to Full-Scale Rebuild?

The Chicago Bulls have long been seen as sellers at the trade deadline, with rumors surrounding Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic, and even Lonzo Ball circulating before the season started.

But the recent buzz around Chicago has been different. Instead of focusing on trading away veterans, the Bulls have made Patrick Williams and Coby White available. Dealing White would signal Chicago’s commitment to rebuilding and starting fresh.

DOES TANKING WORK FOR A BULLS REBUILD?

The Bulls are enduring another mediocre season, and fans are calling for a new approach.

Franchise-changing players have emerged from recent drafts: Cade Cunningham, Anthony Edwards, Victor Wembanyama, Ja Morant, Evan Mobley, and Paolo Banchero. All were top-three picks, with most going No. 1 overall.

Big names in the 2025 draft class include Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, and Dylan Harper. Bulls fans have watched struggling teams transform into championship contenders while Chicago remains average. Another loaded draft class only heightens the frustration. While it’s easy to call for a full rebuild and embrace a bad season to secure a top pick, is that a proven strategy?

Fans want change after years of mediocrity, but a rebuild takes time. Detroit, for example, hasn’t won a playoff series since 2007-08. After over 15 years of rebuilding, the Pistons are still hovering around .500. Before last season, the Timberwolves hadn’t won a playoff series since 2004. It was almost possible that a Timberwolves fan could have been born and had their first legal beer before seeing a playoff series win.

Those are the success stories. There are many failed rebuilds that have left teams in endless cycles of losing— just ask a Hornets fan. For every Cavaliers, Thunder, or Rockets team that rebuilt quickly, there are multiple teams stuck in long, unsuccessful rebuilds.

The NBA’s lottery system complicates full-scale rebuilds. The worst team is not guaranteed the first pick, and even if they do, they could draft the wrong player. A team’s position in the lottery can dramatically impact its future.

The Bulls dropped to the seventh pick in 2019, which saw Chicago take Coby White when they had hopes of Zion Williamson or Ja Morant. There are more extreme examples like Josh Jackson being selected one pick after Jayson Tatum.

WHAT IS THE BEST STRATEGY TO BECOME A CONTENDER?

Rebuilds take time and a lot of luck to even become a playoff team. To determine the best path forward for the Bulls, it’s worth examining what previous champions have done.

The Celtics greatly benefited from trading Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Nets for an avalanche of first-round picks. Although Boston finished as the No. 5 seed in 2016, they could still draft Jaylen Brown third overall. The next season, the Celtics made it to the Eastern Conference Finals and got the first pick. They traded down and selected Jayson Tatum.

The Nuggets didn’t rely on high draft picks to win a championship. They famously drafted Nikola Jokic in the second round during a Taco Bell commercial. They traded for Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and selected Michael Porter Jr. with the 14th pick— the last pick in the lottery. The only player they spent significant draft capital on was Jamal Murray, who was selected with the seventh overall pick.

When the Bulls had success, it came through trades and free agency. In the 2021-22 season, they signed Lonzo Ball and traded for DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic. Zach LaVine was already with the team through a previous trade. The Bulls improved by making moves outside the draft.

In 2008, Chicago had just a 1.7 percent chance to land the No. 1 pick, yet they did, selecting Derrick Rose. The Bulls also drafted Jimmy Butler with the 30th pick in the 2011 draft after finishing with the best regular-season record in the 2010-11 season. The Bulls didn’t tank to get good players in the draft. Present-day Chicago can learn from their past.

LEARNING FROM OTHERS’ MISTAKES/SUCCESSES

None of these teams sacrificed winning for draft picks. While luck played a role, building through free agency and trades has yielded more consistent results than tanking. NBA championships aren’t won by tanking teams that have a top-10 pick at every position— they’re won by teams that continue to improve.

Two things can be true at once: what the Bulls are doing isn’t working, and a rebuild might not either. Chicago must make moves at the trade deadline to build a better future.

But those moves shouldn’t be made with the goal of becoming a worse team in the present.