Injuries had already taken their toll on several squads before the 2025-26 NBA season even tipped off. Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum, and Tyrese Haliburton all suffered postseason Achilles tears, which in turn, ended next season’s championship hopes for the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers and prompted the Milwaukee Bucks to move on from Lillard entirely.
Moreover, the Miami Heat will be without Tyler Herro for at least the first month of the season after ankle surgery. Houston’s Fred VanVleet tore his ACL in a workout and is expected to miss the entire year. In Philadelphia, the 76ers’ second-year guard will open the season sidelined with a UCL tear in his thumb. And in Memphis, the Grizzlies enter training camp already short on big men.
These injuries affect four of the Bulls’ Eastern Conference rivals, and another storyline to watch is that the Heat, in Chicago’s NBA Cup grouping, will face the Bulls on November 21, likely without Herro.
The Bulls feature a roster full of durable players
On the flip side, the Bulls are fully healthy. Ayo Dosunmu had shoulder surgery in March, which ended his season, but there appear to be no lasting effects. The 25-year-old guard resumed full 5-on-5 practices in August.
Although Dosunmu missed a large chunk of last season, it’s an anomaly for the Chicago native to miss any time at all—a pattern that holds across most of the Bulls’ roster.
The Bulls had six players appear in at least 70 games last season. According to Basketball Index, Chicago was the fourth-least affected team by injuries. Missing Dosunmu and Lonzo Ball were arguably the most significant setbacks for the team.
As noted, Dosunmu rarely misses time, and Chicago traded Lonzo Ball in the offseason. They added Isaac Okoro in the Ball trade, who averages 66.8 games per season. In fact, the Bulls’ roster includes just one projected rotation player averaging fewer than 60 games per season: Zach Collins. Even so, the former San Antonio Spur has appeared in 63 or more games in each of the past three seasons.
The Bulls’ roster is young and exceptionally durable, a promising sign for the grind of an 82-game season. Four of Chicago’s projected starters average 70 or more games per season, adding an extra boost to the team’s overall outlook.
In a league already ravaged by injuries, Chicago’s health is crucial. Durability is often overlooked, but it gives the Bulls a clear advantage as the season kicks off next month.
