During the first week of February, Chicago’s entire roster, future, and outlook turned upside down. In some ways, it was for the better, finally moving on from the stockpile of mid-level talent making average salaries, leading the team to a mediocre record and three years in a row of Play-In tournament losses. In other ways, it was infuriating to watch Arturas Karnisovas swap fully deteriorated assets for extremely minimal returns, add a slew of expiring contracts, and fail to acquire any genuine young talent or highly valued draft picks. To make matters worse, after stating that he was not content with landing in the middle with each passing season, Chicago has found itself again with a high likelihood of drafting somewhere between the ninth and twelfth draft slots in the 2026 NBA Draft. Back to the bright side, they might be snagging a second selection in the first round if the Portland Trail Blazers can claw their way into the Western Conference playoffs. Despite the entire mess that’s been built up over the last seven weeks, one name has emerged as a potential future building block.
Leonard Miller Is An Upgraded Patrick Williams
Any Chicago fan who has endured the last six seasons of underwhelming play from Patrick Williams has had one thought watching Leonard Miller play: This is the next guy. He’s nothing flashy, not putting up record-breaking numbers, but he’s a solid contributor, plays above-average defense, crashes the glass, and complements Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis perfectly. That last detail, being the most important, fitting alongside the two cornerstone assets, is what will earn Miller an extended stay with Chicago. This month, he’s posting 11.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest, while shooting 54.2% from the field. All three of those numbers would be career-bests for Williams, a former top-five pick from Arturas Karnisovas.
Bulls Leonard Miller 17 PTS (7-11 FG, 2-3 3P), 9 REB, 3 AST in 23 minutes vs. Rockets https://t.co/ANedKse7da pic.twitter.com/GwmvoWlxxr
— Role Player Performances (@BenchHighlights) March 24, 2026
Worthy Of An Investment
In June of 2024, Williams inked a 5-year, $90 million dollar extension. His career-highs to that point were 10.2 points and 4.6 rebounds in a season, numbers he has failed to reach or surpass since earning the massive payday. He’s also 26 years old now, and not trending upwards. Miller, on the other hand, is 22 years old, earns less than $3 million annually, and is under contract through next season’s conclusion. The only worrisome fact is that if Karnisovas is still in charge, with his numbers already passing those of Williams, he might be granted a contract north of the $18 million annual value that the former Florida State Seminole secured. Since the goal at the trade deadline was to acquire young assets to build around the timeline of Buzelis and Giddey, this particular addition was a slam dunk.
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"Leonard Miller seems like a find. Shoutout to AK for that one. Occasionally he'll hit the lottery, I suppose. Maybe not the actual lottery." 🤣
🗣️ our pal Mark K joined us to weigh in on AK's deadline acquisitions pic.twitter.com/Le525Cfioh
— CHGO Bulls (@CHGO_Bulls) March 15, 2026
Has Leonard Miller proved enough to lock a roster spot alongside his youthful running mates in Chicago, or do the Bulls let him walk next summer and look elsewhere for young depth to align with the development of their young stars?
