OKLAHOMA CITY — The season is over for the Chicago Bulls.

There are still nine games left to play. But with Friday’s 131-113 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Bulls were officially eliminated from postseason contention, removing the last sliver of competition from the final two-week stretch of the season.

The Bulls held on as long as they could in Oklahoma City, white-knuckling a slight lead over the reigning champs until the final minutes of the third quarter. But the Thunder eventually thawed out from an icy start, outscoring the Bulls 36-25 in the fourth quarter to cement the final significant loss of the visitors’ season.

This is the first time the Bulls have missed the postseason since 2021. After losing a first-round series to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, they qualified for the play-in tournament the last three years, only to be knocked out each time by the Miami Heat.

The Bulls have won only one playoff game under executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas. They have not advanced past a first-round series since 2015 and have won only three playoff games in the last decade.

The Bulls have been careening toward this turning point in the season since the trade deadline, which kickstarted a 5-16 collapse as the front office (temporarily) gave up on the postseason. Still, the timeline for elimination came as news to guard Josh Giddey in the locker room after Wednesday’s brutal 157-137 blowout loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The guard’s eyes widened when presented with the concept that the Bulls technically still had a shot at making the playoffs, at least for another game.

“We do?” Giddey gave a bemused nod, then a smile. “Oh. Well, that’s good.”

Giddey bluntly vocalized the reality of his team’s current position. Bulls players stopped keeping a keen eye on the standings after going winless in February. As of Friday, they sat 9½ games behind the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference, which is currently occupied by the Orlando Magic.

From their point of view, the season had been over for a while.

“It’s kind of a weird spot because obviously we’re not mathematically eliminated but we’re pretty much eliminated,” Giddey said. “Obviously there’s a lot of free agents in the room. … It can be easy to start getting into your own kind of bubble, worrying about yourself, but I think we’ve just got to keep doing what we have all year and not get caught up in the playoffs or standings or anything like that. That’s when we can start to splinter.”

This dynamic can be fraught. As one of the leaders in a chaotic Bulls locker room, Giddey understands the risks of the next few weeks. Five players on this roster were acquired at the deadline and will become free agents on April 13. The players in this for the long haul — Matas Buzelis, Tre Jones, Patrick Williams and Giddey — are still wrapping their heads around the next steps for a rebuild. When players feel lost, it’s easy to fall apart on the court and in the locker room.

The front office hasn’t helped to offer any guidance. Coach Billy Donovan is still trying to win games, although that approach may change in the next week. In the process, the Bulls refused to shut down players such as center Jalen Smith, who finally was shut down for the season this week after reaggravating a calf injury once again in Wednesday’s game. The Bulls don’t have a shot at the playoffs, yet they’ve still fought to win games that sank their overall odds at improved positioning for the 2026 draft. This lack of strategic continuity is confusing, even for the players.

It’s not clear what the Bulls have left to fight for in the final 10 games of the season. Players such as Giddey and Buzelis are still trying to hone their skills, improve their defense, build a working relationship that will continue into future seasons. Soon-to-be free agents are playing for contracts. But there isn’t one collective goal for this team to chase over the next 17 days.

“This team is obviously not going to be the same next year,” Giddey said. “We’re not going to have the same 15, 18 guys back. It’s just going to look different. It’s important that we finish this year the right way and then hopefully we can get some momentum going into the summer. I don’t want to start talking next year, we’ve still got (nine) games. But you want to finish this thing the right way, irrespective of the playoffs or play-in.”