As a sports fan, no one wants to root for their team to lose. There’s nothing enjoyable about saying, out loud, that you’d rather see your team not succeed. But in the NBA, losing gets rewarded, and right now, the Chicago Bulls are desperate for that reward.
Tanking is bad. Tanking is ugly. But, historically, tanking works.
Right now, the Memphis Grizzlies have a 26% chance to land a top-four pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, and a 6% chance at the number one pick. They’re just ahead of the Bulls, who only have a 20% chance at the top four and a 4.5% chance at number one.
By beating the Grizzlies last night, the Bulls actually hurt their draft position. Instead of getting closer to Memphis in the lottery standings, they moved further away, and closer to teams like the Milwaukee Bucks, who have worse odds (14% for top four, 3% for number one).
In simple terms: Monday night’s win made the Bulls’ chances at a better draft pick worse.
W. pic.twitter.com/J0KwSFFEC9
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) March 17, 2026 Stephen Lew-Imagn ImagesWho Takes the Blame for this Failed Tank?
The thing with tanking is, you can’t blame the Bulls players or the coaches. You can’t take the most competitive people in the world, guys who’ve clawed their way to the highest level of basketball and ask them to lose on purpose. And you especially can’t expect that from a Hall of Fame coach who built his career addicted to winning.
That’s why I don’t blame Billy Donovan. How can you blame him when the Bulls hired him knowing he just “mutually agreed” to leave his last team because he did not want to be a part of a rebuild and only coach winning teams.
Billy Donovan left OKC when they couldn’t promise the team would be competitive. Six years later, the Bulls are tearing this thing down, and it does not look much prettier.
— Joel Lorenzi (@JoelXLorenzi) February 5, 2026My only real issue with him was his reluctance to develop young talent. But recently, that’s changed.
He’s given Leonard Miller and Rob Dillingham real opportunities, and they’ve made the most of them. He’s handed the keys of the offense to Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis, and the result has been impressive stat lines and wins. All of that helps the Bulls long-term, and it’s something I genuinely like seeing from Donovan.
“We’re giving all these guys an opportunity to play,” said Donovan, “Rob played 26 minutes. We used (Guerschon Yabusele), used Nick, used Patrick. I mean, we played Yuki in the heart of the game, so we’re utilizing everybody.”
Rob is hitting his stride recently ?@robwitdashiftss in his last three games:15 PTS & 4 AST vs. MEM12 PTS & 4 AST vs. LAC12 PTS & 7 AST vs. LAL pic.twitter.com/gvZIgBV70P
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) March 17, 2026But here’s the problem: the architects of a successful rebuild aren’t the players or the coach. It’s the front office.
The organization’s president and general manager determine the direction of the franchise. They’re the ones who “choose” to embrace the tank.
In building rosters that lack the talent to win, teams can stockpile assets to benefit from losing. The biproduct of being terrible is adding high draft picks and running out lineups that prioritize development over victories — just like other teams across the NBA have done successfully.
And they need to hire a coach that understands the importance of rebuild.
Right now, the Bulls’ front office isn’t doing that.
Billy Donovan basically confirmed it himself:
“Like I’ve mentioned before, everything I’ve gotten from the front office has been about going out there and competing, trying to win,” said Donovan. “That’s what the discussions have been. It hasn’t been, ‘Hey, play this guy, this guy, this guy,’ or ‘Do this, this, or this.’ I’m not that familiar with all the odds or percentages, but I just know organizationally… these guys come here every night, they work hard, and they want to compete. I respect that.”
Donovan didn’t go full Han Solo and say “Never tell me the odds,” but his openness with not knowing the process by which better draft picks are acquired is a massive problem.
Honestly, this the kind of quote that should put Artūras Karnišovas firmly on the hot seat. It feels like the front office is still riding the high of finding a gem like Leonard Miller at the trade deadline, as if that alone moves the needle. It doesn’t. The job’s not finished.
© David Banks-Imagn ImagesHow Would the Bulls Benefit from Tanking?
The big benefit? A good pick.
This isn’t theory. It’s precedent. You can hate losing as much as you want, but it’s a necessary part of rebuilding. Tanking pays off.
The openness with which we talk about tanking is relatively new, but the evidence of needing top picks to become a great team isn’t new.
Michael Jordan and Derrick Rose were both picked in top-three and are both former MVP’s on the Chicago Bulls. With a loaded 2026 NBA Draft, positioning yourself for a high pick isn’t just helpful — it’s critical.
The same year the Bulls drafted Jordan third overall, the Houston Rockets selected Hakeem (then Akeem) Olajuwon first overall. The Rockets finished in last place for two years before landing that franchise-altering pick.
The San Antonio Spurs didn’t take long to flip their script in the 1990s, but embraced a one-year tank (thanks in large part to David Robinson’s broken foot) and landed Tim Duncan, their franchise GOAT.
More recently, the “Trust the Process” Philadelphia 76ers turned years of losing into an MVP, an All-Defensive point-forward, a number one overall pick, and sustained relevance. The Oklahoma City Thunder built a contender, and eventually a champion, through the same philosophy.
No team stuck in the middle escapes the middle without first hitting the bottom. Just look at the Detroit Pistons.
They hovered in mediocrity during the Andre Drummond era, made a couple of playoff appearances, and exited in the first round both times. Then they committed to the tank. Years of losing followed, but so did the payoff: multiple All-Stars in Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren, and a return to the top, now sitting with the best record in the East this season.
Tanking isn’t pretty, but being stuck in the middle is worse.
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