Bulls Notebook: Quiet 36 Hours, Preseason Dates, Injury Watch

By the Bulls Nightly Desk · Sunday, September 20

The Bulls have nothing new to report over the last day and a half, with camp and the preseason still ahead of any tip-off. Four players carry the same Oct. 1 return target, and the exhibition schedule is set to open Oct. 7 against the Suns.

Bulls Nightly artwork — Illustration by Hoops Nightly.

Quiet Stretch. No news surfaced for the Bulls in the last 36 hours. The team sits at 0-0 with camp not yet open, so the roster and cap sheet carry the notebook today instead of a transaction or box score.

Preseason Slate. Chicago opens exhibition play Oct. 7 against the Suns, then hosts the Grizzlies on Oct. 9 before road trips to Denver on Oct. 11 (ESPN) and Milwaukee on Oct. 14. The regular season opener is set for Oct. 21 at Toronto.

Four On the Report. Dailyn Swain, Zach Collins, Rob Dillingham and Josh Giddey are each ticketed to be back around Oct. 1, covering a wrist, a toe, a wrist and an ankle. Camp has not opened, so none of the four has needed to prove it yet.

Minutes Tell a Story. Last season, when a teammate sat, somebody ate the minutes: Rob Dillingham's jumped 13 a night over his final three games, Patrick Williams' jumped 14 to a 34-minute average, and Leonard Miller played 28.8 minutes a night over his last 10 games, 13.1 above his season mark.

Cap Has Room. Payroll sits at $161.5 million, under the cap and nowhere near the $200.4 million luxury tax line. Josh Giddey ($25.0M), Nic Claxton ($23.1M), Norman Powell ($21.5M), Patrick Williams ($18.0M) and Isaac Okoro ($11.8M) are the five biggest deals on the books.

Picks Stay Chicago's. The Bulls control their own first-round picks in 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030, with only a 2027 second owed to Oklahoma City and swap rights attached to the 2028 and 2030 seconds. No first-round pick has been dealt away.

Herro Idea Floated. Pippen Ain't Easy's Andrew Hanlon pitched a Bulls-Tyler Herro trade in a Sept. 20 column, arguing it "somehow makes perfect sense." That is one writer's proposal, not word of actual talks, and nothing else has surfaced linking the two sides.

On deck Camp opens with the preseason kicking off Oct. 7 against the Suns; the regular season starts Oct. 21 at Toronto.

When do the Bulls play their first preseason game?

Chicago opens the preseason at home against the Suns on Oct. 7, 2026.

Are the Bulls over the salary cap?

No. Payroll is $161.5 million, under the cap and well below the $200.4 million luxury tax line.