With the three-day NFL Draft wrapped up, the NBA is now on the clock as the next American sports league to welcome a new class of pro athletes.
In his latest mock draft for Yahoo Sports, senior NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor predicted the Chicago Bulls to win the draft lottery. With the No. 1 pick, O’Connor envisions the Bulls selecting standout BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa.
“If the Bulls are lucky enough to move up from the ninth-best odds, it’d be hard to imagine them taking anyone but Dybantsa, who led the nation in scoring as a freshman by averaging 25.5 points for a top-25 team,” O’Connor writes.
“At 6-foot-9, players his size are not supposed to move with the herky-jerky elasticity that Dybantsa does. He can dunk over defenders. He can stop on a dime and fade away from midrange. And he can catch fire from behind the line too.”
An NBA lottery for Chicago would mark the Bulls’ first time owning the No. 1 pick since 2008.
Notably, the Bulls drafted hometown legend and 2011 Most Valuable Player Award winner Derrick Rose first overall that year.
Like Rose, Dybantsa boasts an exciting combination of strength, speed and explosiveness.
BYU head coach Kevin Young said Dybantsa’s scoring talent is “in rare air with some of the greats.”
Chicago is in desperate need of a franchise player and could fill that need by drafting Dybantsa. As O’Connor pointed out, they will need a bit of lottery luck to make it happen.
Bulls Have Ninth-Best Lottery Odds
Following another lackluster season, the Bulls have missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year.
As such, the team is now hoping fortune shines on them in the draft lottery.
Still without a general manager or head coach, the Chicago Bulls have secured the 9th-best odds for the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery. They boast a 4.5 percent chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick and a 20.3 percent chance at a Top 4 pick.
Under the revamped format (which began with the 2019 Draft), the NBA Draft Lottery will ensure that the team with the worst record will receive no worse than the fifth pick. Under the pre-2019 system, the team with the worst record would pick no lower than fourth.
Chicago finished 31-51, marking their fewest wins since the 2020-21 campaign. After cracking a first-round series in 2021-22, they would go on to appear in three consecutive Play-In Tournaments, only to lose each time to the Miami Heat.
Being middle of the pack is one of the worst positions to be in in the NBA, since teams aren’t bad enough to top five pick and aren’t good enough to successfully recruit free agents.
However, that is exactly the situation the Bulls remained in for several years, leading to the leadership overhaul.
With the draft fast approaching, the Bulls would be wise to fill their general manager position soon.
The 2026 NBA Draft will be held on June 23–24, 2026, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The two-night event features the first round on June 23 and the second round on June 24, with coverage starting at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN and ABC.
Bulls Predicted to Land No. 1 Pick in Mock Draft