Unlace those sneakers, stretch out not a single hamstring and take a deep breath, because the tank race is officially underway for the Chicago Bulls, a franchise now staring directly at a path they’ve long refused to travel but can no longer ignore.

Before diving headfirst into the conversation, it is important to acknowledge that coaches and players will never embrace tank talk, and rightly so, because their responsibility is rooted in competing every night rather than calculating ping-pong ball probabilities.

Players are paid to chase wins, to perform with pride and professionalism, and no one can fault them for holding a competitor’s mindset even when conditions around them suggest that a strategic descent down the standings may be more beneficial.

At the same time, fans and front offices should not feel guilty for analyzing the tanking landscape, because the NBA’s current system, as structured, directly rewards the league’s weakest teams with the greatest odds of future talent acquisition.

Until commissioner Adam Silver completes his ongoing review of potential reform options, the reality remains that draft positioning continues to drive strategic thinking for rebuilding franchises.

The Bulls, however, have historically rejected this approach, often clinging to the pursuit of low-seeded Play-In opportunities rather than embracing the reset that many believe could accelerate their long-term competitiveness.

That organizational stance shifted dramatically at this year’s trade deadline when executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas traded seven players in exchange for a package of second-round picks and a pair of former top-eight selections.

Although Chicago did bring in a few veteran names, sell-offs of this magnitude rarely result in on-court improvement, and the Bulls’ subsequent 10-game losing streak serves as immediate confirmation of the downward trajectory.

Since that deadline, the Bulls’ lottery odds have improved significantly, with the team sliding behind both the Charlotte Hornets and Milwaukee Bucks, giving Chicago the ninth-best odds at a top-four pick (20.3 percent) and a 4.5 percent chance at the No. 1 overall selection.

The lingering question now becomes: how much higher can Chicago push those odds before the season ends, and how much of their future will depend upon the outcomes of the next several weeks?

6

Bulls’ Remaining Schedule Could Define Their Tank Trajectory

From a pure lottery-odds perspective, the first priority is staying out of the Play-In Tournament, and fortunately for Chicago, this does not appear to be an especially difficult task given their current standing three games behind the Hornets for the tenth seed.

However, the Bulls’ next matchup is directly against Charlotte, and as unlikely as Chicago winning may seem during their current slump, a victory could inadvertently reduce the valuable cushion separating the teams in the standings.

Two games later, Chicago faces another potentially meaningful contest when they take on the Bucks, who hold only a 1.5-game lead over the Bulls in the race for the 11th seed—an unexpected parallel collapse between two teams struggling to salvage their seasons.

Given how closely the Bulls and Bucks have trailed one another throughout the past two months, a Chicago win could meaningfully alter positioning, creating ripple effects that ultimately reshape the lottery landscape in early April.

Even more pivotal, however, are Chicago’s upcoming meetings with the Memphis Grizzlies, who recently defeated the Utah Jazz and tightened the separation between themselves and the Bulls to just 1.5 games.

The two head-to-head matchups between Chicago and Memphis may end up serving as de facto tank battles, where losing both contests could elevate Chicago into the eighth-worst record—granting a 26.3 percent chance at a top-four pick and a 6.0 percent chance at the top selection.

Climbing any higher than eighth appears unlikely, given the three-game gap between Chicago and the No. 7 slot currently occupied by the Dallas Mavericks, who at least have promising rookie Cooper Flagg injecting life into their season.

Still, these things tend to move unpredictably, especially for a Bulls roster that has now endured nearly a month without securing a win, making even the unlikeliest shifts theoretically possible.

Chicago and Dallas meet in their final game of the regular season, and although it remains a hypothetical, the idea of lottery odds being decided on that final night feels eerily appropriate considering the Mavericks beat the Bulls in the infamous coin-flip that led to Dallas winning the 2025 draft lottery.

For Bulls fans, the mere thought of history repeating itself is enough to send a cold shiver down the spine and reopen wounds that have not yet fully healed.

Why Talking About Tanking Feels Taboo—But Necessary

Discussing tanking often feels like breaking an unspoken rule within NBA discourse, invoking discomfort among viewers and strong reactions among purists who view such thinking as antithetical to the spirit of competition.

Yet the truth remains that over the next month, tank positioning will inevitably occupy the forefront of conversation surrounding several franchises, with Chicago now firmly among the teams most invested in that outcome.

The 2026 NBA Draft is projected to be one of the deepest in years, boasting a combination of elite star prospects, physical anomalies and multi-skilled forwards capable of reshaping franchise trajectories in an instant.

With the Bulls finally embracing what appears to be an organizational reset, the next several weeks may dictate not only their draft range but also the future structure of their roster and the timeline for competitive re-emergence.

The tank race is not glamorous, nor is it universally embraced, but in Chicago’s case, it might be the clearest path toward building a sustainable foundation after years of stagnation and stubborn pursuit of mid-tier mediocrity.

No one knows exactly how the season will conclude, but what is certain is that Bulls fans, front-office members and draft analysts will be monitoring every shift in the standings with more intensity than ever before.

And by the time April arrives, the organization may finally receive the moment of clarity it has avoided for far too long—a chance to secure a foundational piece and fully commit to a future built through the draft rather than through patchwork attempts at immediate improvement.