On Thursday night, our Chicago Bulls will look to resume their belated tank against the Toronto Raptors. Chicago is angling to nab to a top pick in what’s supposed to be a stacked 2026 NBA Draft.
The on-court product has been a tough watch since the Bulls traded away key rotation cogs Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, Nikola Vucevic and Kevin Huerter.
Amidst injuries to Josh Giddey, Tre Jones and Jalen Smith, Chicago has dropped six straight. Giddey and Smith are expected back on Thursday, but the club’s guard-heavy lineup and defense-free perimeter play could prove costly down the home stretch of the 2025-26 season. Playing against the fourth-toughest strength of schedule sure won’t help.
© Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn ImagesBulls Bullets — February 19, 2026
Ron Harper, who won three championships with the Bulls in the 1990s, is having a moment. Two of his sons, Ron Jr. and Dylan Harper, are both in the NBA. Dylan was the No. 2 pick out of Rutgers in the 2025 NBA Draft, and is currently the sixth man on a 38-16 San Antonio Spurs squad riding high on a six-game win streak. Ron Jr. is a two-way player with the Boston Celtics. Although Ron Sr. missed a point-blank lay-up attempt playing alongside his kids during All-Star Weekend’s Shooting Stars competition, he has otherwise enjoyed a resurgence in media interest. The elder Harper recently appeared on Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter’s appropriately titled podcast “Cousins,” where he reflected on — what else? — his Chicago years. Harper made a fascinating contention, backing up Phil Jackson’s claim that Scottie Pippen was the better all-around player than Michael Jordan.“Scottie Pippen is the best small forward to ever play the game of basketball. MJ is the best game day clutch player to ever play the ball game,” Harper said. “You not going to lose with MJ, you could be down 10, two, 18, he’s going to wheel you to win. Scottie has a lot of basketball skills, high IQ, understand the game, knows how to play the game. Pippen is a phenomenal talent he can shoot it, dribble it, can guard one through five and was a great teammate to have. But when you want to get over that hill. You’re going to have to go over there with 23 he will get you over the hill.”
Although that could be seen as a slight to Jordan, Harper did take pains to shout out the five-time league MVP’s relentless work ethic elsewhere on the pod.Ron Harper said playing with MJ meant no days off.“No off days… when you walk in that gym, lace ’em up like it’s gameday.” pic.twitter.com/zytpdXWWmC
— Cousins with Vince Carter & Tracy McGrady (@VinceAndTmac) February 18, 2026“No days off, when you walk in that gym. Lace them up like it’s game day,” Harper said. “That’s what I tell people all the time that Chicago team, the work is extremely crazy. The game was easy, every drill you do was game speed.”
Former two-time All-Star and 2014 Defensive Player of the Year Bulls center Joakim Noah, now a team ambassador, has been making the rounds lately to promote his great new travel show, “Nomad.” On a new episode of Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” podcast, Noah revealed that a former sharpshooting Chicago teammate Kyle Korver had a unique pre-practice ritual, burnt out by head coach Tom Thibodeau’s demanding schedule.“Kyle Korver, before practice, he would stay in his car. I would see Kyle Korver stay in his car until the last minute. And I would walk by and I would see Kyle,” Noah revealed. “His eyes were wide open. You knew what he was thinking: ‘I don’t know if I can do this right now.’ He’s like, ‘We just had a game and we’re doing defensive slides?’ And it’s like, ‘What the f— is going on? There’s no other team that’s doing it.’ And then [Thibodeau]’s just looking at his books like, ‘No. 1 defensive team, best rotation in the league.’ And he’s like, ‘That’s because you guys are doing it the day after practice, man. That’s why we’re doing it.'”
It should be noted that Thibodeau-era ex-Bulls backup point guard C.J. Watson took to the comments section of Barstool’s Instagram clip to chuckle at the memory. Following the highest-rated All-Star Game since 2011, NBC is already thinking about how to improve the on-court product for next year, per Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy. NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood informed McCarthy that his network is contemplating a 1-on-1 or 2-on-2 tournament to add to the fun for the Saturday evening slate — clearly taking a page from Unrivaled’s very fun 1-on-1 tournament run recently. The All-Star Game had 8.8 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo, an 87 percent uptick from the 2025 broadcast on TNT Sports. Giannis Antetokounmpo continues to torment the Milwaukee Bucks faithful. He just cannot stop talking about whether or not he’d like to move on from the team that GM Jon Horst has turned from a perennial title contender into a likely lottery squad. During a chat with COSMOTE TV (shared via Eurohoops), the 10-time All-Star and two-time MVP seemed to claim that he’ll wait until free agency to consider his next steps. This feels somewhat disingenuous, as any superstar player can demand to be dealt away — and, in fact, if it becomes a bidding war, this could be the best way to help Milwaukee recover from an Antetokounmpo deal, as the club could net major assets in an exchange.“As Americans say, opinions are cheap — that’s why everyone has one. Right now, at this moment, I’m in Milwaukee,” Antetokounmpo said. “I don’t know if I’ll leave — it’s not up to me. If it was up to me, maybe I already would have left. In a year and a half, when I become a free agent at 32, it will be up to me.”
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