The Chicago Bulls currently boast a perfect 4-0 start to the 2025-26 season — their best start since the 2021-22 campaign. It’s a strong sign of progress for a team that has been treading water lately, but the question now is: can this level of play be sustained throughout the season?

What’s working for The Bulls?

Several roster improvements have fueled the Bulls’ strong start this season. Chicago’s early surge stems largely from its improved bench depth. The second unit now provides steady scoring, energy, and defense. As a result, the Bulls have found greater consistency from game to game.

In addition, the team’s young players have made noticeable progress. Sophomore forward Matas Buzelis has impressed early, averaging nearly 17 points on 51% shooting through the first four games. Meanwhile, Josh Giddey, just 23 years old, has continued his strong play from last season. He’s stuffing the stat sheet with averages of 19.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 7.8 assists per game.

Moreover, internal development has been crucial to Chicago’s early success. The growth of players already in the building—combined with the impact of a deeper bench—has made the Bulls a far more balanced team. If this trend continues, Chicago could sustain its momentum well beyond the season’s opening stretch.

Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis communicating in a game against the timberwolves (Picture via Abbie Parr/AP)

What’s not working?

Not much is going wrong for the Bulls right now, however, teams start hot in the NBA all the time and then find themselves struggling to make the playoffs come season end. The bulls have a couple things that they’re going to need to sharpen up if they want to be able to sustain this level of play for 82+ games.

There isn’t a ton to nitpick but if you were going to complain about chicago you’d start on the defensive end. Chicago is giving up more wide open three pointers than almost any team in the league as they currently rank 28th in opponent average shot quality (a statistic that measures how covered or open the other teams shot attempts are). The Bulls are allowing teams to shoot a lot of quality looks over their first four games, they’ve just been lucky that those shots haven’t gone down to start the season.

Ayo Dosunmu Guarding the ball in a win against the Orlando Magic (picture via Bleacher Nation)

On the flip side, Chicago has been unusually hot from downtown to start the year as they are currently shooting over 40% from behind the arc as a team. League average for a team is usually between 35 and 36 percent with good teams shooting around 38. Eventually averages will catch up to the Bulls and they’ll have to learn to win games in ways that don’t include shooting teams off the floor.

The Final Verdict

I’m not here to rain on anyone’s parade, The bulls have been super fun to watch so far. They play incredibly fast, everyone touches the ball and they seem like a truly unselfish team. With that being said, I do think that they are overachieving right now. I have seen people saying that they’re a contender and that they’re going to win 60+ games. Realistically, I don’t think this team finishes in the top 4 of the eastern conference. However, I do think that they have taken a small leap from last season. If they stay healthy, maintain defense, and the young pieces keep developing, this year could be seen as a big development and a huge step in the right direction for a franchise that has been lost for the last 10 years.

Thanks for reading – check out some of our other articles down below!