New Chicago Bulls center Nic Claxton has missed the team’s entire, cursed preseason and regular season thus far with a strained left hamstring.
It appears that the rim-running big man is at last nearing his return.
K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network reports that the 27-year-old was a full participant in a team practice at last. The Athletic‘s Joel Lorenzi reported that Claxton has been doing conditioning work since basically the start of the regular season.
Without Claxton, the Bulls have started sharpshooting vet (and plus-minus god) Jalen Smith, who at 6-foot-8 is more of a power forward than a true center and can’t defend the rim.
Stringbean 19-year-old Noa Essengue, the Bulls’ raw No. 12 pick out of the 2025 NBA Draft, has played some backup center minutes, as has already-hurt center Zach Collins.
Chicago has struggled mightily without Claxton, acquired in a three-team summer swap with the Brooklyn Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves. The Bulls have stumbled to a miserable 1-5 start on the year under Tiago Splitter.
While rookie forward Caleb Wilson has looked like a superstar-in-the-making, point guard Josh Giddey and small forward Matas Buzelis have appeared… befuddled by Splitter’s new offense, and have tried even less than usual on defense. Splitter has often swapped in Isaac Okoro for Buzelis and/or Tre Jones for Giddey in clutch late-game situations. Buzelis sat out the entire fourth quarter of Chicago’s latest blowout loss to the Boston Celtics.
The Bulls have also been bodied inside, without the strength of a traditional post presence. Claxton, at least, gives them that. But can he actually help them win games?
Chicago Bulls center Nic Claxton poses during Media Day.Claxton is on the Mend — Will the Bulls Recover, Too?
We should be realistic about what Claxton in 2026 — and what he isn’t. Back injuries have sapped him of some of the verticality and elite rim protection he offered in his absolute prime with the Brooklyn Nets, 2022-24. In 2022-23, Claxton finished ninth in Defensive Player of the Year voting, logging career bests of a 2.2 defensive box plus-minus and an 0.8 offensive box plus-minus. He chipped in 9.2 win shares, by far a career-high.
What he gave Brooklyn last year might be more in line with what he can offer the Bulls now. In 2025-26, on a blatantly tanking Nets squad, Claxton averaged 11.7 points on 57.1 percent field goal shooting and 61.6 percent free throw shooting, 6.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.1 blocks, and 0.7 steals a night. He notched a middling 0.9 box plus-minus (0.6 defensive, 0.3 offensive), and a 4.8 win share.
He still can serve as a major lob threat for all of Chicago’s top ball handlers (Wilson, Norman Powell, Giddey, Buzelis, Jones), and can still clean the glass. Splitter has looked to make the Bulls get out and run, often foregoing defensive rebounds.
Chicago’s 31.7 defensive boards a night rank as just the 19th-best in the league. Claxton’s 4.5 defensive rebounds last season, if ported over to this year, would only rank fourth on the team — behind Jalen Smith’s 6.0 defensive boards and Caleb Wilson and Josh Giddey’s 4.7.
Still, he has the strength and willpower to box out opposing bigs on the block. He’d also help give the Bulls frontcourt’s offensive attack a different look. Smith takes more of his shots (54.2 percent) beyond the arc than he does within it. Smith generates just 39 percent of his offense within 10 feet of the basket. Claxton, who’s not a jump shooter, takes a whopping 89.2 of his takes in that 10-foot range.
Having a big man shoot from distance is a great modern touch for a team to have in its offensive portfolio. Smith (and Wilson) at least take triples with frequency, while Smith makes enough of them to keep opposing defenses honest. In a perfect world, the Bulls would have one center who could shoot from long range and guard the rim, but those are in short supply.
Really, 3-point shooting is a problem for the entire roster. Chicago ranks dead last in the NBA when it comes to long range efficiency, at a miserable 28.1 percent conversion rate. Splitter has the Bulls shooting a ton of 3-pointers, as their 43.3 takes are the third-most behind only the Portland Trail Blazers’ 44.8 and the Charlotte Hornets’ 44.4. Chicago just isn’t making many of them.
The Bulls also really can’t stop anyone defensively right now. Okoro is their best current perimeter defender, while Smith can at least take rival bigs man-to-man (just not at the rack) and Collins/Essengue offer a little rim protection. None of these guys were projected to even start heading into the year.
Claxton will help improve the Bulls’ floor, adding some dimensionality on both sides of the court. But the problems go beyond his absence. It will be fascinating to see how much better Chicago will really look when he finally suits up.
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