Not the Baby Bulls of the mid-2000s. Not the best of Derrick Rose and friends in the 2010s. Not Zach LaVine’s squads in the 2020s.
Not since the 1996-97 season, the second year of the second three-peat of Chicago’s Michael Jordan-led dynasty, has a Bulls team started 5-0.
Not until Friday, when the youthful Bulls secured a 135-125 win over the New York Knicks in the first in game of NBA Cup play for both teams.
His Airness has long left the building, but this season has been a breath of fresh air at the United Center.
These Bulls have fought the multi-year prophecy of the Play-In. They’ve relentlessly executed a system predicated on running, cutting, connectivity and a commitment to forcing their style upon opponents. It’s a double-edged sword: running these young Bulls’ legs into the ground is a potential consequence, but Chicago will seemingly give every team it plays a run for its money until then.
JOSH GIDDEY IS BLAZING 🔥
21 PTS
6 REB
4 AST
4 3P pic.twitter.com/WBAfjvpNPb— Bulls on CHSN (@CHSN_Bulls) November 1, 2025
It happens quickly. Like in Chicago’s 37-point, eight 3-pointer, single-turnover second quarter. A far cry from the early going, when New York’s double-big presence and hyperactivity on the glass seemed to ruffle the Bulls’ feathers. Chicago plays so fast that it can erase a quarter’s worth of work from an opponent in a matter of minutes. The Bulls might never be the defensive aggressor, but their whiplash offense tests other teams’ mettle.
The Bulls led by 19 at halftime, not the first firm lead they’ve held this season. Nor was it the first time they’ve let a lead slip away, as the Knicks fought back to make it a single-possession game.
Midway through the fourth, OG Anunoby hit his fifth 3 of the night (he finished 5 of 7 from deep) to cut Chicago’s lead to two. The Knicks saw four starters score at least 22 points. Much to the chagrin of those pointing at the strikingly poor shooting luck of Chicago’s first four opponents, who shot 26.7 percent from 3 against the Bulls, New York made 40 percent of its 45 3-point attempts.
Chicago fought back with pace, depth, and immaculate execution. The Bulls had 72 turnovers through their first four games; against the Knicks, they coughed it up only seven times, with just two first-half turnovers.
The Bulls followed Anunoby’s 3 with a 13-3 run — a compilation of fourth-quarter savvy from guard Ayo Dosunmu, floor-general flashes from Josh Giddey, and paint touches from Nikola Vučević.
Giddey has taken control of an offense he feels an ownership stake in. This feels different from his eyesore ending in Oklahoma City, where he struggled playing off the ball for an emerging contender.
Now, his progression has projected All-Star buzz. Giddey delivered a signature performance, totaling a career-high 32 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists while shooting 12 of 21 from the field. After Friday’s win, Giddey provided a simple explanation for his growth on the court: “Confidence.”
He added, “Being in a place where, obviously the contract stuff is out the way now, that’s off my back this season. I’m in a place where I’m wanted. I love being here. I’m happy here. Having confidence from your teammates and your coaches to trust me to go out there and make plays. That’s what you need as a player.”
Vučević pitched in 26 points and four 3-pointers, while Dosunmu poured in 22 points and nine assists. For the fifth straight game, six different Bulls players scored in double figures.
Death by depth. The Bulls’ bench totaled 53 points — the third 50-point game from a bench that has averaged 49 so far this season.
“For us, it’s about ball movement, playing out of ball screens, handoffs, cuts, paint touches,” Giddey said. “Teams have to defend. They have to get back. And it’s tiring to have to guard that for 48 minutes.
“I’ve been on the other side, playing Indiana. It’s exhausting playing against them because of how much they run. I can only imagine what it’s like playing against us.”
It has been simultaneously a marathon and a sprint, exacted by a team conditioned by summer runs that featured a 14-second shot clock, coach Billy Donovan’s doing. The half court is treated like transition, too, a timed exercise with a series of actions and quick triggers.
Weeks before camp began, this group knew who it had to be and what would be required to win in this system. That the Bulls have executed so well this early in the season is the most impressive part.
Donovan acknowledged the effort it takes to maintain such a breakneck pace over the course of a game and a season. Kevin Huerter added that he hasn’t been part of a team — or even seen one — with this dynamic, where the group lacks a resounding No. 1 option and rotates so many fringe starters.
“This team’s gotta withstand a lot of punches,” Huerter said, “and so far it’s worked.”
Now, a Bulls team that was cast into Eastern Conference irrelevance sits in first place as its lone undefeated squad. They’ve done it with Giddey’s improved shooting and leadership; with Dosunmu’s penchant for heading downhill; because the 35-year-old Vučević looks sprightlier than he did in the preseason; because Matas Buzelis brought hope before this run ever did; because Huerter feels liberated and enabled as a decision maker; because Patrick Williams, a plus-13 in his 23 minutes, has shapeshifted into a starting-caliber forward; because the testimonies of comfortability go on and on.
But then again, as Giddey and others in the locker room were quick to say, “It’s only five games into the season.”
An acknowledgment of the moment — the Bulls are fun again — that comes with an understanding that it’s an 82-game campaign.
Their first chapter has been riveting. Unlikely. Impossible to script.
The Improbabulls.
