Only four teams are undefeated after the first six days of the NBA season: The Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Philadelphia 76ers, and the Chicago Bulls. One is the defending NBA champions. One has a player like we’ve never seen before. One has a former MVP. And the other has a slightly above-average starting point guard!
I think most would say the Chicago Bulls have had a surprising start to the 2025-26 season. Facing off against two projected playoff teams with former No. 1 picks, the Bulls walked away with two wins. While the fourth quarter ended up relatively close both nights, Chicago was in control for the majority of each game. They shared the ball extremely well, knocked down some clutch shots, and held their opponents to 111 points or less. In fact, the Bulls even saw the Pistons and Magic shoot a combined 41.9 percent!
That’s right, the Bulls’ defense has quickly become a talking point over the first week of the season. Their 98.1 defensive rating is the BEST in the NBA heading into Monday night’s meeting with the Hawks. And that feels pretty darn crazy to say (type?) after all the offseason concerns regarding that side of the ball.
Oct 22, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic (9) high fives Chicago Bulls guard Tre Jones (30) after he scores an three point basket against the Detroit Pistons during the second half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn ImagesAt the same time, as encouraging as that number may appear, we can not forget that we’re only two games into the year. We also shouldn’t totally ignore all the context around that number. Sure, the Bulls deserve some credit for looking more engaged defensively and ramping up their physicality, but most signs still point toward this being a pretty below-average unit.
Consider how many points the Bulls have allowed inside, for example. While the average of 104 points scored between the two games is the lowest in the NBA, the average of 63 opponent points in the paint is the most! They are fresh off a season where they allowed the single-most points in the paint a night, and they are technically picking up right where they left off.
I have already seen a handful of people point out how much better this defense has been than expected, including The Athletic in their latest power rankings. But we all know numbers can be deceiving. For instance, the Bulls are benefiting early from a 10-48 combined shooting effort from downtown by the Magic and Pistons. Would I love to give the Bulls’ defense credit for some of that? Absolutely, but that feels hard to do when more than half (27) of those 48 attempts were deemed “wide open” by NBA stats.
The Magic and Pistons also finished last season either league average or worse on the offensive end. Orlando held the NBA’s 27th offensive rating, whereas Detroit ranked 14th. Now, both were expected to see improvement on this side of the ball coming into 2025-26, but we all know that can take far longer than two games to show itself. The Bulls are going to need a much better test before we really give this defense any round of applause.
To be clear, I do think that what we are seeing early on from players like Tre Jones (8 steals in two games) and Isaac Okoro (a +6 thus far despite failing to score in either game) can help boost the Bulls slightly on that end. Matas Buzelis also remains a strong shot blocker, while Patrick Williams has looked surprisingly aggressive off the bench. But when three of your projected starters are known to be net-negatives on that side of the floor (Coby White, Josh Giddey, and Nikola Vucevic), it’s typically going to catch up to you.
Anyway, we can always revisit things in a week or so after the Chicago Bulls play a few more games. But the sample size remains far too low for me to believe this defense will prove to be anything more than the subpar unit we initially expected. Prove me wrong, Bulls!
Ayo Dosunmu of the Chicago Bulls – © Kelley L Cox-Imagn ImagesHence then, the article about guess who has the best defense in the nba right now was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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