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.
With only six games remaining after Tuesday, it’s all but impossible for the Bulls to catch the Hawks for the seventh seed, which provides both home-court advantage and the ability to advance with a single win.
Separation is key for the Magic and Heat to hold off the Bulls, who hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over both teams. (The Bulls and Heat play again April 9 but the Bulls lead the season series 2-0.)
The remaining schedule also heavily favors the Bulls, who face by far the easiest set of opponents, aside from next Tuesday’s road game against the first-place Cleveland Cavaliers. Three of the Bulls’ final six games are against the bottom three teams in the East — the Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers — and they also have a home game Friday against the Portland Trail Blazers, who are 12th in the West.
But that doesn’t mean much at this point of the season. The Bulls have beaten powerhouses like the Lakers — twice in a six-day span — and then choked against the fading Mavericks. Their inconsistency is a natural side effect of their youth and streaky offense.
Ultimately the Bulls don’t control their outcome. If the Magic and Heat can hold their current margins, the Bulls are destined for a 10th-place finish.
But if the Bulls are fully committed to pushing for a playoff berth, one final surge over the next two weeks could be crucial to set them up to advance out of the play-in tournament — for the first time.
