The Chicago Bulls kicked off their 2025-26 season on a surprise 6-1 tear — a barrage of dominance not seen since the franchise’s 1990s heyday — sans starting shooting guard Coby White. A crisp pace-and-space offensive attack led by $100 million point guard Josh Giddey seemed to befuddle an impressive slate of opponents, including expected East playoff squads like the Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers.
But the Bulls have fallen back down to earth in the worst possible way since, having gone just 3-13 since that blazing beginning. Chicago is currently mired in a miserable seven-game losing streak, a confounding tear that includes defeats against NBA bottom-feeders like the New Orleans Pelicans, Charlotte Hornets, Indiana Pacers, and Brooklyn Nets.
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Ailments are at least partly at fault here, with White once again on the shelf for the first five contests of the losing streak. Starting small forward Isaac Okoro, backup center Jalen Smith, and reserve guards Tre Jones and Kevin Huerter have all missed significant time across this stretch.
Still, the 9-14 Bulls should not be losing to these teams if they really hope to return to the playoffs proper for the first time in four seasons.
One Chicago legend, at least, is preaching patience for Chicago’s talented young core.
Grant’s Bulls achieved that 6-1 feat twice, once during his 1987-88 rookie season (Chicago went 7-1 across its first eight bouts) and later during Chicago’s championship-bound 1992-93 campaign (that team actually started out a robust 10-1).
“Well, they were winning without Coby,” Grant notes of Chicago’s early luck. “But Coby’s such a dynamic player, I don’t think the Bulls would have sustained that winning without him. And Josh is Josh.”
Through 21 games, the 6-foot-7 Giddey has been averaging career highs of 20.3 points (on .474/.396/.740 shooting splits), 9.5 rebounds, and 8.9 assists per. White has been healthy for just seven bouts thus far. Questions have abounded about Chicago’s defensive intensity in the backcourt — and, well, everywhere — when both of Billy Donovan’s preferred starting guards are healthy.
“But I think the Bulls, they’re such a young basketball team,” Grant cautions. “And right now I don’t think they understand the significance of playing great defense — I mean the old saying, ‘Offense wins games, but defense wins championships.’ I tell people, ‘Give this team a little patience,’ because they are young. And once they start to mature as a team, keep that team together and you’ll see a different outcome in a year or two. Because it took us, back in the late ’80s, early ’90s, to mature as a team to get over the Pistons and the Knicks.”
To Grant’s point, 25-year-olds White, Jones, Smith and Ayo Dosunmu, 24-year-old forwards Okoro and Patrick Williams, 23-year-old Giddey, 21-year-old forward Matas Buzelis and sidelined 18-year-old rookie lottery pick Noa Essengue all clearly have room — and time — to develop. In fact, among the Bulls’ top 11 players, only two players — 35-year-old starting center Nikola Vucevic and 27-year-old bench wing Kevin Huerter — are older than 25.
When the Grant-era Bulls did eventually begin to mesh around their hyper-athletic core of himself, shooting guard Michael Jordan and small forward Scottie Pippen, they took few prisoners. That trio, of course, would go on to boast a combined 23 All-Defensive Team appearances. Assistant coach Johnny Bach guided Chicago’s first Big Three to employ a stifling press defense, built on relentless athleticism.
“I tell people all the time, the late ’80s and ’90s Bulls, man, we had an arrogance about us,” Grant explains. “But whenever we stepped on the court, it wasn’t that we were going to win. We felt that we could win every game. Our mindset was like, ‘Okay, let’s go and destroy this team so myself, Scottie and MJ rest in the fourth quarter.’ That was our mindset — and to get the bench some more time on the court.”
Selected with the No. 10 pick in the 1987 NBA Draft out of Clemson, Grant emerged as a critical star during Chicago’s first three-peat. Often tasked with slowing down the opposition’s best frontcourt star, the 6-foot-10 big man used an impressive verticality and a dogged, furious aggression in the post to crush his coverages.
Grant eventually left Chicago as a free agent in 1994, eventually starting for two more Finals teams alongside Shaquille O’Neal (the 1995 Orlando Magic and 2001 Los Angeles Lakers), but returned to the Windy City in retirement. A four-time champion (three with Chicago), four-time All-Defensive Teamer, and 1994 All-Star, Grant now works as a special advisor to Bulls COO Michael Reinsdorf.
The Bulls recently paid tribute to the Begoggled One by electing him to their Ring of Honor Class of 2025, a special internal team Hall of Fame for Chicago legends. Grant was joined by two other Bulls starters from the club’s 1990-91 and 1991-92 title teams, point guard John Paxson and center Bill Cartwright. Paxson was shifted to a bench role during Chicago’s third straight championship season, 1992-93, in favor of B.J. Armstrong. Jordan and Pippen were members of the inaugural 2024 Ring of Honor class.
Former championship-era assistant coach Johnny Bach, longtime commentator Neil Funk, and former 1970s Bulls point guard Norm Van Lier rounded out the Class of ’25.
“Man it was one of the best weeks of my life — first, being honored with such a great organization. Secondly, just reminiscing with guys like Pax and Bill and Neil Funk and the late great Johnny Bach — with his family there. It was so exciting,” Grant recalls of the lead-up to his Nov. 22 enshrinement into the Ring of Honor. “And plus, all the fans there.”
On the heels of this well-deserved franchise recognition, Grant is poised to launch an exciting media venture next year.
He’ll host a new television interview series for Urban Grind TV, Legends In Session, where he’ll chat with his fellow former NBA players (including several notable Bulls of yesteryear) about their lives and basketball journeys.
“I just felt that I should have my voice out there a little bit more. Everyone who knows me knows that I’m a no-nonsense type of guy, I wear my heart on my sleeve and just have a story to tell. This TV series is just going to be my journey from my adolescence and my growth [in] college, 17 years in the NBA, and my guests are going to do the same,” Grant reveals. “So it’s going to be fascinating, transparent and fun. Of course we’re going to talk about ’80s and ’90s basketball compared to basketball now and things of that nature.”
Hall of Fame former Grant teammates Pippen and Gary Payton, his twin brother Harvey (who played for 11 NBA seasons himself), and dynasty-era Bulls fan favorites BJ Armstrong and Stacey King number among the announced interviewees.
“I already know all these guys, but I want them to share it with the public, with the fans, about their growth from childhood, adolescence, college, what were their keys to success, and what are they doing now since us old heads have retired?” Grant relays.
Cameras are set to roll in Chicago this winter, ahead of an anticipated launch around June 2026. Stay tuned to the show’s site and Instagram page for further updates.
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