The Chicago Bulls entered the preseason with only one looming lineup question — who should be the fifth member of the starting rotation?
The core of the starting five is obvious — Josh Giddey as an oversized point guard, Coby White leading off the ball as a shooting guard, Matas Buzelis waiting in the wings and Nikola Vučević anchoring in the post. But coach Billy Donovan has a diverse range of options at hand to fill in the final slot in the starting group.
As the Bulls head into the final week of the preseason, it’s a decision that Donovan is still weighing.
“We’re going to have to use our whole roster,” Donovan said. “Last year was probably the first year that we rotated 10. It’s going to be something we’re going to have to look at and review. … As we start to get closer to the first game, you can start to look at that. It’s really about — how can we play to our identity?”
In making this decision, Donovan is picking between four primary candidates: Isaac Okoro, Kevin Huerter, Tre Jones and Ayo Dosunmu.
Okoro seems like the most obvious fit in the starting lineup. The Bulls acquired the forward this summer in exchange for Lonzo Ball with the express purpose of toughening up the team’s defense — and Donovan has been thrilled with the result in the early weeks of preseason. Okoro would give the Bulls more grit in a rotation that features three starters — Giddey, Vučević and White — who struggle defensively.
Cleveland Cavaliers’ De’Andre Hunter blocks a shot by Chicago Bulls’ Isaac Okoro in the first half of a preseason game at the United Center on Oct. 9, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
But the Bulls also often need to kickstart their offense in the opening minutes of play, which could give merit to placing Huerter in the starting group. The Bulls posted an offensive rating of 122.9 in the 134 minutes that Huerter spent on the floor with the other four starters last season. That’s a small sample size — but it reflects how effective the team could be on the attack with a 3-point shooter who averaged a 37.6% clip in a Bulls jersey last year.
Jones can boost the offense in a different way as a true point guard, allowing Giddey to move off the ball to create a more balanced — and spread out — offensive look. And Dosunmu offers a combination of the defensive abilities of Okoro and the offensive facilitation of Jones, although he has struggled to hang onto a starting role in prior seasons with the team.
Starting will be slightly less important for this Bulls team than other squads in the league due to the team’s need for deep rotations. For instance, although he might technically rank lower on the depth chart for facilitators, Jones is clearly a focal point for Donovan as he builds out rotations for this season.
“His role is going to be important,” Donovan said of Jones. “The thing that’s great with him is — whether it’s starting coming off the bench, whatever you think — he always tries to figure out ways to impact.”
Although the Bulls will have a standard starting group, Donovan also might mix up the rotations when needed throughout this season.
The Bulls often opened and closed with two slightly different groups last season. Some games may call for Huerter’s 3-point shooting while others will require Okoro to pick up a specific defensive assignment from the opening whistle. And Donovan — who has a notable fondness for small-ball rotations — is also interested in running three guards alongside Buzelis and Vučević when the matchup allows for it.
However, the new style of offense doesn’t always afford the Bulls quite as much flexibility as Donovan would prefer. He’s considered the possibility of working Zach Collins in with starting center Vučević for a look at a two-big rotation. But playing with two centers would require the Bulls to completely slow down their offense, taking away their transition threat and erasing the team’s hard work to establish this grueling style of play over the last year.
So instead, the Bulls will stick to four-out rotations that utilize one center and prioritize physical agility at the four position with forwards like Buzelis, Okoro and Patrick Williams. This limits the team’s center depth to mainly rely on Vučević and Collins, who beat out Jalen Smith for the backup center role immediately upon arrival at the trade deadline last season.
The preseason hasn’t given as many starting rotation hints as hoped due to White’s lingering calf strain, which kept him sidelined for the first three exhibition games. White might be available for limited minutes in the final preseason game against Minnesota on Thursday, but this still hasn’t given the Bulls much of an opportunity to test out varied lineups before the regular season kicks into gear.
If that uncertainty is adding any edge to locker room competition, the Bulls aren’t letting it show. Players rarely voice an expectation of a starting role, despite their obvious desire to win the spot. The Bulls players living in flux this preseason stuck to that script.
“I expect Billy Donovan to do what Billy Donovan is gonna do,” Okoro said. “Whatever role that is, if that’s me starting or that’s me coming off the bench, I guess I’m willing to do anything that happens.”
Jones echoed this sentiment.
“I’m ready for whatever the team asks of me,” Jones said. “Obviously we’re not banged up coming into this year, which is nice, so we’ll have a lot more bodies coming into the year. We’re all trying to figure out our roles and everything like that. Whatever the team asks and needs from me, I’ll be ready to try to give my all in my role and just do whatever I can to help the team win.”
Barely a week before the season opener, three things are clear about this final starting role.
Whoever earns this spot will have to spend the rest of the season defending it. Even the players coming off the bench will carry hefty expectations this season. And for the Bulls, versatile production from this group of potential starters will be crucial to sustain an offense through a full 82 games.
Originally Published: October 12, 2025 at 4:18 PM CDT