After the end of the 2025-2026 season, the NBA draft was up next. Ever since the draft lottery, most people felt the top of the draft was easy to predict. BYU standout A.J. Dybantsa would go #1 to Washington, Kansas guard Darryl Peterson would go to Utah at #2, Memphis would take Duke sensation Cameron Boozer, and the Chicago Bulls would “settle” for North Carolina uber-athlete Caleb Wilson at #4. While all four players were considered blue-chip talents, most felt there was a small gap between the top three and Wilson.
Former NBA veteran and current Bulls analyst Kendall Gill thinks the opposite is true. He is familiar with North Carolina basketball from his time in the league playing for the Charlotte Hornets. Gill watched Wilson play a lot last season. He came to one conclusion. It’s a very good thing that the young forward broke his thumb and didn’t get the chance to play in the NCAA tournament. Gill told 104.3 The Score that if he’d participated, there is a strong likelihood that Wilson would’ve been the #1 pick instead of Dybantsa.
Caleb Wilson was on a tear before his injury.
In the eight games leading up to breaking his thumb, he averaged 22 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block every night. That included heavyweight matchups against Virginia and Duke. Does anybody think he couldn’t have handled his business against Virginia Commonwealth in the tournament opener? He probably would’ve dominated. That would’ve set up a thriller matchup against Illinois, who may not have had the athletes to keep up with him, even with their great defense.
Gill’s example of Michael Jordan playing in the Olympics is a perfect one. The future G.O.A.T was selected 3rd overall in the 1984 NBA draft. Not long after, he joined Team U.S.A. in Los Angeles for the Summer Games. Across five contests, he averaged 18 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal per game despite playing 20 minutes each game. He was the best player in the tournament by a wide margin, helping the U.S.A. bring home the gold medal. Imagine what might’ve happened in the draft had the entire NBA seen that first.
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| Date | Opponent | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 24, 2026 | @ No. 18 Virginia | 24 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Jan 31, 2026 | @ No. 22 Georgetown | 18 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Feb 3, 2026 | vs. No. 12 Syracuse | 16 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Feb 7, 2026 | vs. No. 4 Duke | 21 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Luck has always been part of the draft.
Plenty of it was involved with Jordan. There was the Olympics angle, sure. Yet people don’t recall Hakeem Olajuwon choosing to come out of college early as a junior. If he hadn’t, Jordan would’ve gone earlier. Then you had the Portland Trail Blazers at #2. If they didn’t already have Clyde Drexler, there is no way they would’ve passed on Jordan for big center Sam Bowie. Then you have Reggie Theus, an All-Star, getting benched and then traded by the Bulls in 1983-84.
It was no different for the Bulls this time around. They needed the top of this draft class to be loaded, allowing Caleb Wilson to slip down the board. He had to miss the NCAA tournament with a broken thumb. Then you had Josh Giddey missing almost 30 games with injuries, while a team finally traded for Nikola Vucevic. Lots of good fortune went into this outcome for the Bulls. If things unfold as many believe, it is possible history will show they ended up with the best player in the draft.
