Following a 5-0 start, the Chicago Bulls have stumbled to a 9-10 record, losing three straight and seven of their last 10 games. Their defense has struggled mightily, and the offense hasn’t been able to compensate for the lapses.

Moreover, Chicago’s bench, which carried the team to early-season wins, has cooled off recently. In the first 10 games, it ranked third in scoring, fifth in field goal percentage, sixth in three-point percentage, and fifth in plus/minus.

Bulls’ bench losing its early-season spark

Over the Bulls’ last five games, the bench ranks 15th in scoring, 16th in field goal percentage, 26th in three-point percentage, and 28th in plus/minus. What was once a nearly unbeatable advantage has become a unit less effective than most of its rivals.

Surely, injuries have limited the effectiveness of the Bulls’ reserves. Kevin Huerter, Jalen Smith, and Patrick Williams have all missed games over Chicago’s last five, and several starters have been sidelined as well, further muddying the team’s overall performance.

Regardless of injuries, the Bulls’ bench just hasn’t been as effective. In a 103-101 loss to the Indiana Pacers, the reserves scored 30 points on 12-of-24 shooting. Tre Jones accounted for much of that output, dropping 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting and finishing with a plus-6, one of only four Bulls to record a positive plus/minus.

Before the loss in Indiana, Chicago suffered an ugly defeat at the hands of the Charlotte Hornets. In that game, the bench was outscored by Charlotte’s reserves and had only one player with a positive plus/minus—Jones, once again. Ayo Dosunmu and Jalen Smith, arguably the Bulls’ most impactful reserves, finished with minus-21 and minus-19, respectively, in the seven-point loss.

The bench’s relative ineffectiveness is evident in the team’s decline over the last five games. After a stellar start, the Bulls can no longer afford for their reserves to flounder. Through the season, 38.1 percent of Chicago’s points have come from the bench—ranking third in the NBA and highlighting just how crucial the reserves have been to the team’s success.

Chicago needs its bench to produce—it’s non-negotiable, especially without a true star in the starting lineup. That could mean Ayo Dosunmu returns to a reserve role when Isaac Okoro comes back from injury. Although Dosunmu is having a career year, a bench role may be better for the team’s overall success.

While there isn’t another lineup change Billy Donovan could realistically make, the return of several players and finding the most plausible rotation moving forward is bound to improve both team success and chemistry. Nonetheless, if there’s one aspect of the Bulls that needs to rekindle some early-season magic, it’s the bench.