This is what I love about sports. The magic of it.
Because how else do you explain a team like the Chicago Bulls being linked to some of the best restricted free agents in the NBA, without a president of basketball operations, a general manager, or even a head coach in place? It has to be magic, just not the Orlando kind.
Or maybe the Reinsdorfs have taken it into their own hands to—no, that somehow sounds even less believable.
So how has it happened that numerous reports have linked the Bulls to players like Peyton Watson, Walker Kessler, Jalen Duren, and more?
Who Are the Chicago Bulls Linked To?
Over the last couple of days, Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line have reported four players linked to Chicago.
The first was Peyton Watson of the Denver Nuggets, placing the Bulls alongside the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets as potential suitors.
“League sources have already identified the Lakers, Bulls, and Nets as potential suitors that are likely to have the requisite spending power to present an offer sheet that causes angst in the Rocky Mountains. The Stein Line has learned, in fact, that both the Lakers and Bulls registered trade interest in Watson leading up to the in-season deadline for deals on Feb. 5, although it must be noted that Chicago’s front office will soon have a new lead voice after the recent ouster of former Nuggets executive Artūras Karnišovas.”
They also reported Chicago’s interest in Walker Kessler, Jalen Duren, and Mark Williams, three of the premier big men potentially available.
“There is an anticipation that Williams, like Detroit’s Jalen Duren and Utah’s Walker Kessler, will attempt to generate interest from Chicago in restricted free agency, since the Bulls are projected to wield some $65 million in salary cap space. Projecting the Bulls’ offseason intentions with certainty will naturally be easier once they’ve installed a new head of basketball operations, but Chicago’s lack of a proven center on the current roster is undeniable.”
These are some of the headlining names of the 2026 free agency pool, players who have outplayed their rookie-scale deals and are set to receive massive paydays.
But walking through the empty halls of the Bulls’ front office, I can make a bold assumption: this newfound interest isn’t coming from inside the organization. So where is it coming from?
Why Are the Chicago Bulls Linked to So Many Players?
The 2026 NBA free agency class isn’t one that will drastically reshape franchises. The biggest names include a 41-year-old LeBron James, 33-year-old Norman Powell, 31-year-old Kristaps Porziņģis, and a collection of other 30+ veterans headlining the market.
The real treasure, though, is on the other side: restricted free agency.
That’s where you find some of the most intriguing young breakout players in the league, Jalen Duren, Peyton Watson, Tari Eason, Bennedict Mathurin, and more.
But everyone knows the catch with RFAs: the team that holds their rights not only can offer the most money, but can also match any offer sheet thrown their way. It’s rare for these players to actually change teams.
Rare, but not impossible.
Let’s take Jalen Duren, for example. He’s just 22 years old and made his first All-Star team this season on the best team in the East, record-wise. He averaged a career-best 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. On the surface, there isn’t an amount of money the Detroit Pistons wouldn’t put on the table to keep him around.
In fact, during the 2025 offseason, they did offer him an extension, and he declined it. He bet on himself, expecting a much bigger payday down the line.
And if the offseason had started before the first round of the playoffs, Duren probably gets the Brinks truck rolled up to his front door. But today? That’s not the case.
In the first round, against the eight-seed Orlando Magic, Duren has struggled, badly. Despite his “breakout” year, his production has dipped from last season, and he’s sitting at a -14 in the series for Detroit. His inability to stretch the floor and generate offense has turned an All-Star into a liability.
And in a league that pays players based on ‘what have you done for me lately‘, Duren hasn’t done much.
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Instead of commanding the $240 million max, or even $288 million with an All-NBA nod, the Pistons might hesitate. It sounds unbelievable, but we’ve seen this before just last offseason.
“I think [Detroit] were just in one place, one headspace, and I was in another,” Duren said when reflecting on those negotiations.
So what’s stopping that from happening again this offseason, especially if the Pistons get bounced in the first round?
And that’s where the Chicago Bulls come in.
They can dip into that projected $65 million in cap space, throw a max offer at Duren, and force Detroit into a decision. Match it, and risk locking into a player who may plateau, or worse, become a playoff liability. Don’t match it, and you lose a 22-year-old All-Star for nothing.
That same pressure can be applied across the league: the Denver Nuggets with Peyton Watson, the Utah Jazz with Walker Kessler, the Phoenix Suns with Mark Williams, and the Houston Rockets with Tari Eason. These teams already have money tied up in other parts of their roster, putting them dangerously close to being handcuffed by the league’s harsh second-apron restrictions.
That’s also why teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets keep popping up, they’re among the few with real cap space to play this game.
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But back to the original question: where are these rumors actually coming from?
The Bulls don’t even have a front office in place right now. There’s no clear direction, no defined plan, no one steering the ship.
Which leads me to this: it’s probably the agents.
Because the easiest way to get your client paid is to use teams with cap space as leverage. Float their names, create a market, and force opposing teams into uncomfortable, high-stakes decisions.
This isn’t really about the Bulls, unless a player specifically wants to be there. Right now, Chicago is more pawn than player.
Sure, maybe one or two of these teams blink and let their RFA walk if the offer gets too outrageous. But if that happens, guess who’s left holding the bag?
The Bulls.
Which is why, whoever ends up running Chicago’s front office needs to play this game carefully. Push the market, test the limits, but don’t get trigger-happy.