The Chicago Bulls have a roster in transition. Bulls general manager Marc Eversley said so after the 2025 NBA Draft.

The Bulls drafted Noa Essengue and Lachlan Olbrich, two players that will get a chance to develop into role players for the team in the future. This front office will get a chance to see this through, whatever it becomes in the end.

Sources confirmed reports to FOX 32 Chicago that Bulls Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas had his contract extended. Other reports noted Eversely had his contract extended, too. This was after the Bulls finished 39-43 last season and fifth in the central division. They were the only central division team to not make the playoffs.

“We took a step back this season to reposition and retool,” Eversley said. “While we don’t know exactly what next year’s roster will look like, we’re encouraged by the early progress and the direction that we are heading.”

That’s not really true. The Bulls finished 39-43 for the second year in a row after unloading the key pieces of their last core of players. It was an underrated coaching job by Billy Donovan, who found a way to get his fast-paced offense going.

All things considered, it could be worse.

So, about that direction the Bulls are heading in.

We still don’t know when the Bulls will be a competitive team again in the East. There’s no ideal timeline the Bulls have been open about. They wouldn’t publicly say who has gotten contract extensions. H

Eversley said Wednesday night that the team is setting itself up to take steps forward… in 2026?

“Over the next 18 months – through the draft tonight, free agency and with financial flexibility coming in 2026 – we believe we are setting ourselves up to take meaningful steps forward,” Eversley said.

That’s spoken like someone who isn’t hard-pressed to win right away. The Bulls’ drafted like it, too.

After Wednesday, it’s easy to warm up to Essengue as a prospect. He said all the right things, answered the hard questions and has a highlight reel of impressive plays that fit Billy Donovan’s offense.

When asked why he walked away from his German league team in the German league championship finals, Essengue said he had his coaches’ blessing to chase his draft dreams. You can re-furl those red flags.

But, Essengue still needs time to play at the NBA level and develop with the Bulls coaching staff. Team ownership is ready to give the Bulls’ front office time to see it through.

It’s become clear the Bulls want to do it right and draft like they have to front offices’ wedding. No one should hold that against the Bulls. Frankly, that should be priority No. 1 for a team that’s clearly been looking to rebuild the core of its roster since trading DeMar DeRozan last offseason and following that up by trading Zach LaVine.

There might be even more moves, too. Who knows if Nikola Vucevic and Coby White will remain Bulls players by this time next month.

The Bulls want to make it clear they want you to stay tuned.

But they need to show something to keep people invested. Sun-Times Bulls beat writer Joe Cowley has been asking what the Bulls are doing in order to find the next star of the franchise, and the Bulls respond with some variation of a tune they’ll keep jamming to.

“Building something great, making it last, it takes a long time,” Eversley said. “It takes planning, patience and doing the hard work without taking shortcuts.”

It’s clear they’re not taking any shortcuts. This is the long game. But there’s no idea how long that will be. The Bulls are asking for trust from a fan base that wants to see something from a team that’s been stuck for three-straight years.

“We know it’s frustrating when change doesn’t happen overnight, but we’ve seen encouraging growth from our youth, from our young core, and we’re going to keep pushing,” Eversley said.

If 2026 is going to be a finish line of some sorts, then what needs to happen? Essengue needs to show development, but it’s not fair to hold him to the same standard Matas Buzelis set with an NBA All-Rookie Team spot. Buzelis improved his shot and defense consistently, but he also had Director of Player Development Peter Patton. The Bulls fired Patton during the offseason.

So, then what? Eversely said the Bulls have made a few internal promotions, but haven’t hired a shooting coach to replace Patton.

If the Bulls want to see Buzelis, Giddey and Essengue develop into quality starters before committing big money to pay free agents, that’s fair. That’s a good plan.

That plan also starts with hiring a shooting coach. Whatever that plan is, we might not know what benchmarks there are. The bottomline is, the front office has the trust to see its all through.