The last two weeks of the regular season will be an outright foot race for the Chicago Bulls.
The Bulls have overcome an underwhelming start to the season to claw their way back into a likely third consecutive appearance in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament.
This upward trajectory is mostly a symptom of a weak year in the East, which is on track to have two playoff teams with sub-.500 records. But that doesn’t matter to the Bulls, who are attempting to redeem themselves with a late-season push to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2022.
The Bulls enter Tuesday night’s game against the Toronto Raptors at the United Center in 10th place in the East — the final play-in spot — with a chance to eliminate the 11th-place Raptors with a win. That would create a four-team battle with the Miami Heat, Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks for seeding in the tournament.
If the Bulls can jump the Heat for ninth place, they would host the play-in opener. And if they get past both the Heat and Magic for eighth, they would have two shots at earning a playoff berth, hosting the 9-10 winner if they lost the 7-8 game.
The Bulls trailed the Heat by one game, the Magic by 2½ and the Hawks by 3½ through Monday, so they’re still most likely to end the season in 10th. Playing in the 9-10 game is a familiar position for the Bulls, who finished ninth last season and 10th in 2023. They won their play-in opener both years before losing on the road to the Heat.
Such déjà vu is an indication of how the Bulls have been unable to break out of a cycle of mediocrity that’s further entrenched by the East’s lack of competitiveness. With multiple teams in the conference actively tanking for better odds in the draft lottery, making the play-in tournament was an even easier lift this season.
That doesn’t mean the rest of the season will be easy for the Bulls, who cemented a foothold in the play-in standings by ripping off nine wins in 11 games that included a six-game road stretch against Western Conference opponents. After Thursday’s home win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Josh Giddey’s half-court buzzer-beater, the Bulls were a game ahead of the Heat for ninth and within 1½ games of the Magic for eighth.
But back-to-back losses to the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday and Monday proved how precarious the Bulls remain — even with significant improvement from Giddey, Coby White and rookie Matas Buzelis.
