Nabbing the 4th overall pick in the 2026 NBA draft was a major stroke of good fortune for the Chicago Bulls. It gives the new VP of Basketball Operations, Bryson Graham, an ideal asset to help kickstart the team’s much-needed rebuild. Most experts agree this draft class has four definitive blue-chip players: A.J. Dybantsa of BYU, Darryn Peterson of Kansas, Cameron Boozer of Duke, and Caleb Wilson of North Carolina. One of those names will be available to the Bulls come draft night. The general belief is that Wilson is the likeliest of the four.
Expectations are that Graham will keep it simple and just take whoever falls to #4. However, there is an undercurrent of belief that Chicago might be considering a bolder option. It would involve them putting that pick up for auction, allowing another team to jump to the 4th spot for one of those players, and handing what would hopefully be a substantial package of assets in return. FortyEightMinutes claims that an NBA executive admitted such a move by the Bulls would bring a potentially franchise-changing package.
If the Bulls were to trade down, they’d no doubt be able to land a “franchise-changing” haul for the No. 4 pick, one rival front office member tells FortyEightMinutes, given that there seems to be a consensus top 4 in this year’s draft (AJ Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer, Darryn Peterson, and Caleb Wilson).
Wilson is widely seen as the No. 4 prospect in the draft, though in our 10-Tier, Top 60, our scouting has him clearly below the other three (in tier 3 by himself, below Boozer in tier 1 and Peterson/Dybantsa in tier 2).
The Chicago Bulls have somebody with experience in this.
Graham was with the New Orleans Pelicans when they held the 4th overall pick in 2019. The Atlanta Hawks, who were picking 8th, sent them a package that included that pick, the 17th pick, a 2nd round pick, and a protected future 1st round pick. The Hawks took D’Andre Hunter. Unfortunately, New Orleans didn’t quite take advantage of the windfall. They took Jaxson Hayes with the 8th pick, who has been a bench player most of his career. They passed on Tyler Herro. The 17th pick yielded Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who never got going in New Orleans but just had a breakout season in Atlanta.
That 2nd round pick became Didi Louzada, who did little for the Pelicans before he was packaged in a trade for C.J. McCollum. As for the protected 1st rounder, it didn’t convey as hoped but did convert into two 2nd round picks. One of them landed Herbert Jones, one of the better young defensive forwards in the league. So while the trade did yield positive results for the Pelicans, it didn’t help to transform the franchise as they originally hoped. That is why the Chicago Bulls must be careful with such a decision.
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Any offer would have to be bigger than that.
Hunter may have been a good prospect in 2019, but he wouldn’t have been close to the four options on the table this year. It’s been a long time since there was a consensus around the league on the top of the draft since 2014 at least. consensus across the league on the top of the draft since at least 2014. All of these guys are expected to be at least All-Stars. The going rate for such players is always expensive, and Graham has every reason to set the price tag high.
All things being equal? I wouldn’t expect this to happen. Part of it is because the Bulls badly need a centerpiece to build around, which they currently don’t have. Another is the new rules recently implemented by the NBA to protect against tanking. One of them is removing protections for picks between the top 12 and top 15. It is believed this will make teams far more reluctant to part with future 1st round picks. Chicago may not have a big enough market to collect a franchise-altering package.
