The Chicago Bulls have spent a decade briskly jogging on the treadmill of mediocrity. Since trading Jimmy Butler during the 2017 Draft, the Bulls’ 269-363 overall record is the 5th worst in the NBA, only behind the small market Pistons, Wizards, Hornets, and Magic. The team hasn’t really benefitted from all that losing, moving up in the lottery only once during that time, and never drafting inside the top-3. This is a team that has only won one playoff game since the Butler trade, and hasn’t won a playoff series since 2015. Under owners Jerry and Michael Reinsdorf, the Bulls reject bottoming out to hunt elite talent at the top of the draft in part because they won’t risk losing money that comes from annually leading the league in attendance, but also refuses to spend into the luxury tax on the rare occasions when they actually do have a good team.
There wasn’t much reason to believe the 2025-26 Bulls would be any different. Chicago had won 40, 39, and 39 games over the last three seasons respectively, and made only one real change to the roster over the summer by trading Lonzo Ball for Isaac Okoro. Whatever optimism was created by closing last year’s regular season on a 15-5 kick was mostly extinguished by a blowout loss to the Miami Heat in the play-in tournament for the third straight year.
Just when it became scripture that the Bulls were an unserious franchise that refused to change their ways off the court, the team quietly made big stylistic changes on it. After finally moving on from DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine, the Bulls went from a slow-paced, mid-range heavy profile to an ultra high-tempo team that finished with the NBA’s shortest time of possession last year at 13.2 seconds. Chicago’s emphasis on pushing the pace was the foundation of their whirling drive-and-kick game that lifted their three-point rate into the top-5 while also leading the league in catch-and-shoot attempts. The Bulls’ offense wasn’t exactly good yet after finishing No. 20 in efficiency (and No. 14 after the All-Star break following the LaVine trade), but the bones of an effective offense were in place.
The Bulls are now 3-0 to start the young season, and they might be the biggest surprise in the NBA. Chicago has knocked off three teams that were supposed to be better than them in the Eastern Conference this season with victories over the Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, and Atlanta Hawks, and none of them looked like flukes. The Bulls have done it by doubling-down on their identity as a high-tempo team that runs opponents into the ground and relies on a deep bench to carry them through potential slogs. The fact that they’ve done this without arguably their best player in Coby White (out with a calf strain) or their second best big in Zach Collins (recovering from a broken wrist) is even more impressive.
The Bulls are becoming a huge pain in the ass to play against, and not for the traditional reasons like elite rim protection, point of attack defense, or a takeover scorer. Instead, Chicago exhibits toughness by pressing the pedal to the metal on every possession, sharing the ball like crazy, and attacking with waves of fresh bodies. Head coach Billy Donovan is playing 10-11 guys per night even without White and Collins, and the team plays the same style regardless of lineup configuration. Chicago plays five-out for all 48 minutes (at least until Collins returns), hunts transition opportunities even after makes, and keeps running whether they’re up by 20 or down by 20.
The Bulls have no stars, which is becoming their defining quality. Only Coby White ranked in ESPN’s top-100 players list this summer, coming in at a paltry No. 71. Stars win in the NBA, but they’re also owed a certain amount of usage and a certain amount of field goal attempts. The Bulls learned how detrimental that could be during the LaVine and DeRozan era even as both put up masterful scoring efficiency numbers. So far this year, no one on the Bulls ranks in the top-35 of usage rate league-wide. With no obligation to get any one player shots, the Bulls are No. 3 in the NBA in passes made, have the league’s third-shortest average time per touch, and fourth fastest average speed. Translation: the ball doesn’t stick ever in this offense, and it’s helping the entire team play in rhythm.
Rhythm and space are a scary combination in basketball, and Chicago has found a way to merge them. The ball has energy when it’s finding open teammates, and those players are acting decisively on whether to dribble, pass, or shoot. So far, the Bulls lead the NBA in drives, but their drives aren’t meant to end in shots. Chicago passes out of a drive 45.3 percent of the time, per NBA.com, trailing only the Warriors. The Bulls have thrown by far the most passes out of a drive league-wide through three games. The Bulls also have the fewest isolation possessions of any team in the league.
On a team without a star, the Bulls have embraced a strength in numbers ethos. Josh Giddey gets the most usage on the team (27 percent usage rate), but the ball doesn’t stick in his hands. Giddey is excellent at hit-ahead passes that get the Bulls running in transition, and he’s steadily improving as a three-point shooter year-over-year even if he won’t take them off the dribble. Nikola Vucevic has been reborn in this offense as an elite shooter from the big man spot who hit 40 percent of his threes last season and is off to another hot start. Vucevic is deadly as a trailer taking open shots when the Bulls get running, and his floater game has also felt automatic since being freed from playing with LaVine and DeRozan. His ability to act as a playmaking hub has been indispensable in dribble hand-offs. While his slow feet and inability to jump hurts the Bulls’ rim protection, Vooch is still pretty good at getting up to the level of the screen and forcing deflections with his hands. The fact that Vucevic and Giddey are so good as defensive rebounders unlocks the team’s running game.
The big surprise for the Bulls early in the season is Tre Jones, acquired in the LaVine trade and inked to a cheap three-year extension over the summer. Jones is a small lead guard who is reluctant to shoot from three, but he’s becoming an elite driver and live dribble passer who feels like Chicago’s best shot-creator when the game slows down in the halfcourt. Jones has been a lynchpin for the Bulls thus far because he can keep his dribble alive in tight spaces while keeping his head up for open teammates, and he has just enough scoring juice to punish a defense himself when he gets an opening. Jones has also embraced the Bulls’ pace pushing with a beautiful hit-ahead pass like this one against Atlanta:
There are players making contributions all over the lineup. Matas Buzelis is the team’s biggest reason for hope long-term, and he’s already flirting with being a true breakout player this season. As a bouncy 6’10, 21-year-old forward, Buzelis is an elite transition scorer who can also block shots at a high rate on defense and knock down a spot-up three on offense. Ayo Dosunmu has been on fire dating back to preseason in a contract year, aiding the offense with determined and speedy drives to the basket while also knocking down his threes early in this season. Kevin Huerter gives the team a volume three-point shooter off the bench while White is injured, Patrick Williams is finally playing with more physicality while quietly developing into one of the team’s best three-point shooters, and players like Jalen Smith, Isaac Okoro, and Julian Phillips are playing to the system even with up-and-down performances.
While the Bulls should be encouraged by their start, there’s no doubt it’s also a little bit lucky. The first thing to look at for a team surpassing expectations is opponent three-point shooting, and indeed the Bulls’ opponents have been ice cold shooting threes. Opponents are making only 26.3 percent of their three-pointers so far, the worst in the league, but the Bulls are doing well to limit three-point attempts at 26.7 per game, also the lowest in the league. Part of that is from playing the Magic and Pistons, teams that don’t have much shooting. It will be fascinating to track if the Bulls can limit three-point attempts all year, and if the low percentage allowed is pure small-sample-size luck or something they deserve more credit for.
For all the praise about the Bulls’ offense earlier in this piece, this team is still winning with defense. Chicago is tied for the league’s best defense with the similarly unbeaten Thunder right now, which is entirely unsustainable. The Bulls’ offense ranks No. 22. They don’t have many great shooters especially without White, they’re a poor offensive rebounding team, and they have the league’s third highest turnover rate. Lots of passes = more opportunities to give up runouts on turnovers. While pace, space, and ball movement might seem like the pillars of an efficient offense, shot-making and winning the possession game are more functionally important. The Bulls’ shooting talent on this roster is average at best, and it’s hard to win the turnover battle playing at this breakneck pace. When opponents finally start making their threes, will the mirage of the Bulls’ success fade away?
It’s possible, but the way Donovan has this team defending on a string is honestly jarring given their lack of defensive talent. Just watch these possessions:
While the Bulls’ offense might not be scoring efficiently yet, their style of play has a way of somehow hurting the other team’s offense through tired legs. Whether or not that’s sustainable through 82 games remains to be seen, but this offensive system is particularly effective in the regular season when teams are playing back-to-backs or three-in-four-nights, which Chicago has already benefitted from on the schedule early in the year.
Are the Bulls good? I’m not quite ready to say that largely due to their opponents’ awful three-point shooting. At the same time, someone has to rise in the East this year, and it already feels like the Celtics and Pacers are set up for gap years without injured stars Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton. The Bulls are built for regular season success, and Donovan has the whole team buying into the gameplan. Chicago is now 18-6 over its last 24 games dating back to last season, and while the play-in rout is informative, so too is their newfound regular season success.
It’s easy to believe this is all a fool’s errand, and that the Bulls would be better off trying to go after Cameron Boozer, Darryn Peterson, and A.J. Dybantsa at the top of the 2026 Draft. Well, ask the Wizards, Nets, Hornets, and Jazz how tanking went for them last year as the flattened lottery odds have created unprecedented movement in the draft order. Dallas moved up from No. 11 to No. 1 for Cooper Flagg a year after Atlanta moved from No. 10 to No. 1 in the 2024 draft. The Bulls still need more impact talent, but losing by design doesn’t have the same chance of success it used to before lottery reform hit in 2019.
Maybe best of all, the Bulls actually love playing together. Just listen to Ayo Dosunmu after the win over the Hawks:
If the Bulls had an actual star, they probably couldn’t play this way. You can’t drop Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Luka Doncic into this offense and expect the pace and ball movement to maintain at league-best levels. Players like SGA and Doncic are exactly what you need to win in the playoffs, and without someone like that, the Bulls are doing the best they can to cobble together regular season success even if it might be the detriment of landing the type of young franchise player they desperately need.
Donovan deserves a ton of credit for how competent the Bulls have been this season, and GM Arturas Karnisovas deserves credit for giving Donovan a long leash and targeting players who fit the system. Giddey has been a nice fit so far, keeping Tre Jones looks like a lowkey masterstroke, and finding Buzelis and rookie Noa Essengue in the draft gives Chicago more high upside outs while building through the middle.
The Bulls have never behaved the way a big market bully should, but they’ve found comfort in embracing a starless approach that makes the entire roster feel important. The East is bound to have a riser or two in a down year for the conference, and it really shouldn’t be a surprise if Chicago is one of the teams that can break into the top-six of the playoff picture. The Bulls won’t have a high ceiling without a franchise player, but they’re showing they can potentially have a high floor and give the city something fun to cheer for.
It’s only three games, but these don’t look like the “same old Bulls,” not with an egoless team that pushes the ball down the opponent’s throat on every possession. The Bulls aren’t building like anyone else, but they may have found a sustainable path to competence anyway.
