{"id":754497,"date":"2026-06-07T02:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T02:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/754497\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T02:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T02:03:14","slug":"central-notes-kessler-bulls-draft-options-beasley-boswell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/754497\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Notes: Kessler, Bulls’ Draft Options, Beasley, Boswell"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bulls should keep a close watch on Walker Kessler<\/a>\u2018s negotiations with the Jazz as they consider their options for a new starting center, Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times<\/a> writes in a subscriber-only piece. The 24-year-old big man is widely expected to re-sign with Utah, and because he\u2019s a restricted free agent the Jazz will have the option to match any offer. If Kessler doesn\u2019t reach an agreement with the team before free agency begins on June 30, Cowley suggests that Chicago should offer around $20MM per year and see if that leads to anything.<\/p>\n

Free agent center Zach Collins<\/a> told reporters in April that he would like to stay in Chicago, but Cowley is skeptical now that coach Billy Donovan is gone and the team has moved into a rebuilding phase. Cowley also expects Nick Richards<\/a>, who was acquired from Phoenix at the trade deadline, to depart in free agency, calling him \u201ca strange presence in the locker room.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Bulls could address their need for a center in the draft, Cowley predicts that they\u2019ll select North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson<\/a> at No. 4 and Baylor guard Cameron Carr<\/a> at No. 15, leaving new executive vice president of basketball operations\u00a0Bryson Graham to explore free agency to find help in the middle.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more from the Central Division:<\/p>\n

Wilson may be a perfect addition for the Bulls\u2018 new timeline, contends Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune<\/a> (subscription required). He brings an explosive athleticism that should transfer well to the NBA, averaging 2.8 dunks per game during his time with the Tar Heels. Poe believes Chicago may target a center with the 15th pick, and while Michigan\u2019s Aday Mara<\/a> figures to be off the board by then, Italian Luigi Suigo<\/a>, Washington\u2019s Hannes Steinbach<\/a> or Houston\u2019s Chris Cenac<\/a> could be an appealing alternative.
\nMalik Beasley<\/a>, who missed all of this season, remains under investigation in the NBA\u2019s gambling probe and won\u2019t return to the league until that\u2019s resolved, Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press<\/a> states in a mailbag column. The Pistons still hold Beasley\u2019s non-Bird rights and can offer a contract starting at $7.2MM. Sankofa also touches on a potential new deal for restricted free agent Jalen Duren<\/a> and predicts that Isaiah Stewart<\/a> is likely to remain with the team.
\nAfter working out for the Pacers this week, Illinois guard Kylan Boswell<\/a> talked to the media about what he\u2019s learned by studying T.J. McConnell<\/a> (Twitter video link<\/a> from Tony East of Circle City Spin).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bulls should keep a close watch on Walker Kessler\u2018s negotiations with the Jazz as they consider their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":754498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3771],"tags":[8763,7,920,7146,57846,919,329,3824,90768,60901,1016,912,8785,35313,910,6,7797,3886,1405,4104],"class_list":["post-754497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-bulls","tag-aday-mara","tag-basketball","tag-bulls","tag-caleb-wilson","tag-cameron-carr","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-chicagobulls","tag-chris-cenac","tag-hannes-steinbach","tag-isaiah-stewart","tag-jalen-duren","tag-kylan-boswell","tag-luigi-suigo","tag-malik-beasley","tag-nba","tag-nick-richards","tag-t-j-mcconnell","tag-walker-kessler","tag-zach-collins"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116706371401738322","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}