The NBA offseason is officially underway, and the Chicago Bulls are entering a critical chapter with a clear mandate: adapt or fall further behind. Fresh off the hiring of Bryson Graham as the new Vice President of Basketball Operations, the front office is laser-focused on a modern archetype of player—one defined by elite versatility, adaptability, and the physical tools to dominate in today’s spacing-driven, positionless game.
Graham’s philosophy is encapsulated in a simple but demanding acronym: SLAP — Size, Length, Athleticism, and Physicality. And according to longtime Bulls insider Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg checks every single box.
Lendeborg, the 6-foot-9 forward with the verified 7-foot-4 wingspan, just led the Wolverines to the NCAA national title. He is not a projection. He is a proven winner. In his championship run, the 20-year-old averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while anchoring one of the most disruptive defenses in college basketball. His calling card? Perimeter lockdown ability combined with explosive athleticism and the raw strength to battle bigger bodies in the paint.
For a Bulls team that has spent years searching for two-way wings who can both protect the rim and switch onto guards, Lendeborg represents the exact prototype Graham has been brought in to identify and acquire. Cowley’s reporting is blunt: this is the type of player the new executive is actively targeting as the franchise looks to rebuild its identity around length, switchability, and relentless physicality.
The timing could not be more opportune. The 2026 NBA Draft is set for June 23–24, but first comes the Draft Lottery on May 10 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. Current projections place the Bulls at the No. 9 pick entering the lottery. They carry a 4.5 percent chance at the No. 1 overall selection and a 20.3 percent chance of landing inside the top four. Regardless of where they land, Chicago is positioned to make multiple high-impact selections, holding two first-round picks inside the top 15.
Lendeborg is widely viewed as a potential top-10 talent. Both the Oklahoma City Thunder and Charlotte Hornets have already shown serious interest, underscoring how his rare combination of size, defensive versatility, and championship pedigree has league-wide appeal. Yet for the Bulls, the fit feels almost predestined. In an era where wings who can guard multiple positions while maintaining offensive spacing are the most coveted assets, a 7-foot-4 wingspan attached to a 6-foot-9 frame that just hoisted a national championship trophy is the kind of outlier that can accelerate a rebuild overnight.
Graham’s arrival signals a philosophical reset for the Bulls — away from the star-driven, mid-tier contention model of the past and toward a roster built on interchangeable, high-motor pieces that can evolve with the league. Lendeborg is not just another big body; he is the embodiment of that vision. His ability to defend the perimeter at an elite level while still offering rebounding and secondary scoring makes him the kind of two-way difference-maker that contending teams fight over in the draft.
As the lottery balls drop tonight in Chicago, one thing is already clear: the Bulls are no longer just hoping for upside. Under Bryson Graham, they are hunting for the exact physical and basketball profile that defines the next decade of NBA basketball.
And if Joe Cowley is right, Michigan’s title hero — complete with that absurd 7-foot-4 wingspan — could be the first building block of Chicago’s next era.
Nobody in the league is truly ready. But the Bulls? They’re about to be.