CHICAGO — Hey, guess what? The Chicago Bulls clinched a playoff berth Tuesday night. Can you believe it?
(Waits for reaction.)
Ha ha, you should see your face right now. I just zinged you with a classic April Fool’s prank!
With their 137-118 win over the Toronto Raptors on April 1, the Bulls clinched their third straight Play-In Tournament berth. Someone call Pat Riley, because we’re talking about three-peats in Chicago again.
Advertisement
I guess the joke is not so funny if you’re a Bulls fan. One with higher standards, anyway.
Now, I’m not the kind of writer who thinks anything short of a championship is a lost season. People say the worst place to be is in the middle, but at least there’s pride a team can take in being a perennial playoff team. Judging by the facial reaction Bulls guard Coby White gave me when I mentioned the Bulls’ three consecutive Play-In appearances, he’s not celebrating this minor accomplishment. He likes the idea of advancing out of the tournament since the Bulls haven’t done that yet.
“The things that we’ve done this back half of the season, the way we’ve played, you know, I think it would be exciting for us to make the playoffs,” White said.
The Bulls have clinched a spot in the NBA Play-In tournament. pic.twitter.com/xUV1GvWVLg
— Bulls on CHSN (@CHSN_Bulls) April 2, 2025
If the standings stay the same, the Bulls will play the Miami Heat for the third straight year, this time in the first game of the Play-In Tournament. The winner will play the loser of the Orlando Magic-Atlanta Hawks game.
With a playoff appearance on the line each time, the Bulls have lost to Miami in the last two Play-Ins, but this time, there’s no Jimmy Butler on the other side. The Heat had a half-game lead on the Bulls going into Wednesday, and the two face off April 9 at the United Center. The winner gets to host the 9-10 game, so maybe team president Michael Reinsdorf will give the Bulls a pep talk about gate receipts and beer sales.
The Bulls have beaten the Raptors and Hawks in the 9-10 game the past two years, only to see their season end two days later in Miami.
“It’s tough, especially to lose to the same team twice,” White said after Tuesday’s win.
This will be the fourth Play-In appearance for the Hawks, who are currently the seventh seed, and the third for the Bulls and Heat, who are battling for the ninth spot. All four teams have losing records. No one really wants to see these teams play any more games, but then again, the Heat went from the Play-In to the NBA Finals two years ago, so you never know.
Advertisement
A positive for the Play-In Tournament is that it keeps teams with losing records like the Bulls interested and engaged at the end of the season. But should middling organizations get to pretend that making the Play-In Tournament is any kind of real accomplishment?
It’s a conundrum.
“I get where we’re at in the totality of the league,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “The reality is we’re the bottom of the league in the East, but we’re fighting for an opportunity to potentially have to win one game or two games, or whatever it may be, and if that happens, you’re in the playoffs.”
Bulls win, clinching a spot in the play in tournament. Time to dance. pic.twitter.com/CHQsQxgAzJ
— chuck swirsky (@ctsbulls) April 2, 2025
If the Bulls stay in their current situation, the reward for winning two games would be playing the No. 1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers, who already have 60 wins, and losing any kind of shot in the NBA draft lottery.
The Bulls (34-42) already clinched their third consecutive losing season when they got blown out by the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night. That also marked the Bulls’ seventh losing season out of 10 since they fired Tom Thibodeau after the 2015 playoffs. They’ve made the playoffs only twice since then and failed to win a series. This team is in desperate need of a reset, starting with a lottery selection, preferably made by a new front office.
After trading Alex Caruso in the offseason and letting DeMar DeRozan walk, the Bulls waded back into the rebuild waters, but only so far. Trading Zach LaVine at the deadline didn’t crush this team, as it’s still the ninth- or 10th-best team in the East. A smart leadership group would’ve positioned this team for better lottery odds, but the Bulls don’t have one of those.
With nothing else to play for, Donovan thinks the Play-In Tournament, along with the carrot of the playoffs, has some value for young players like rookie Matas Buzelis, one of the few bright spots in the organization right now.
“I think these guys that are going through this, these younger players, they need to feel what that feels like in those moments, in my opinion,” he said. “We don’t want to lose that opportunity for their growth and development.”
Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox.
Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox.
In recent weeks, there’s been a little Bulls buzz in the city and nationally after they won 9 of 11, including two over the Los Angeles Lakers, over three weeks in March. Five of their six losses in March came at the hands of actual playoff teams, which shows this team’s limitations.
White, who averaged 27.7 points in 15 games in March, was named the East’s player of the month, making him just the sixth Bulls player to earn that honor, joining DeMar DeRozan, Jimmy Butler, Derrick Rose, Scottie Pippen and, oh yeah, Michael Jordan. White needs only 15 more such awards to tie Jordan’s team record, 16 to pass him.
Advertisement
If the Bulls are going anywhere once the regular season ends, it has to be White who leads them. He’s already thinking about what went wrong the last two years and what they need to get over the rebuild hump and win two in a row. It’s in the best interest of the organization to lose and keep a lottery spot, but that’s not the players’ problem.
“How can we come down from that emotional high and do it again two days later and be able to have that same attention to detail, that same physicality, that same compete level?” he said. “And quite honestly, I feel like Miami, the last two years we played them in the Play-In, they physically dominated us. And so how can we match that, both games? Obviously, we gotta get past the first game. But how can we bring that competitiveness in both of those situations? Because it’s single-game elimination; it’s just like March Madness. So how can we be ourselves but also ramp it up to a whole new level?”
It’s kind of like how the Jordan Bulls had to figure out how to get past the Detroit Pistons in the playoffs, right?
“This is the path we were given,” White said. “This is our journey. This is our own personal journey as a team. So we got to make the most of it, continue to fight together, be together, stay connected. We’re still blessed and fortunate with the opportunity to make the playoffs, so we’ve got to take full advantage of it.”
(Photo of Coby White: David Banks / Imagn Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
About the author
NFL Draft: Top 25 prospects for 2026, headlined by 4 QBs, several Clemson defenders and Ohio State’s ‘Monster Back’
The 2025 NFL Draft is so last week’s news. So here’s the top 25 for the 2026 NFL Draft. Because it’s always draft season.1. Peter Woods, DT, Clemson, JuniorA monster in the middle. That’s what Peter Woods is. A 6-foot-3, 315-pound interior game wrecker that has the athleticism to play on the outside, too. Woods is a powerful defender with light feet that plays hard and has the ability to impact the run or pass on every down. His top-notch combination of strength and agility would fit in any type of defense. Woods reminds me a lot of Jets star Quinnen Williams.2. Caleb Downs, S, Ohio State, JuniorSafety prospects, even the most talented and highly regarded ones, seldom go high in the first round of the draft. Caleb Downs is the type of defender, and just pure football player, to […]
Mike Trout left Wednesday’s Angels-Mariners game as a precaution with knee soreness
Mike Trout is dealing with another injury scare.The oft-injured three-time MVP left Wednesday's game between the Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners after running out a ground ball in the third inning.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAfter the game, manager Ron Washington told reporters that Trout felt soreness in his left knee when he hit the bag and that he was removed from the game as a precaution. It wasn't immediately clear when Trout will be able to return to the lineup.Here's the play in which Trout experienced his soreness. He sprinted to first base after hitting a ground ball and was called out on a close play.There was no immediate sign that Trout experienced any issues on the play. But the at-bat was his last of the day. He was replaced in the lineup by Jo Adell for his next scheduled at-bat. The Mariners […]
LIV Golf Korea preview: Can Brooks Koepka get his first win of the season?
<!--> LIV Golf wraps up the first half of the 2025 season with this week’s LIV Golf Korea presented by Coupang Play, the seventh tournament during the 14-event league schedule. Here is everything to know before the action begins live on FOX Sports.BASIC INFOWhen: May 2-4Where: Jack Nicklaus Golf Club KoreaADVERTISEMENT -->Competition: Three rounds/54 holes of stroke playField: 54 players – 13 teams of four players each, and two wild cardsShotgun Start local time Rd. 1, 11:05 a.m. (May 1, 10:05 p.m. ET)Rd. 2, 11:35 a.m. (May 2, 10:35 p.m. ET)Rd. 3, 12:25 p.m. (May 3, 11:25 p.m. ET)KEY STORYLINESLIV Golf makes its first visit to South Korea, which becomes the 10th different country to host a LIV Golf tournamentLIV Golf Korea marks the halfway point of the 2025 season, with six regular-season tournaments and the Michigan Team Championship scheduled for […]
Rockies claim the worst April record in MLB history despite snapping 8-game losing streak vs. Braves
A narrow 2-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday could not save the Colorado Rockies from claiming the worst April record in the history of Major League Baseball.After its 8-2 loss on Tuesday, Colorado bounced back, putting an end to an eight-game skid and giving them a 5-25 record.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLast season, the Chicago White Sox finished with the worst record in modern baseball but still tallied six victories by the end of April.According to The Athletic, the Rockies are on pace to lose 135 games, 14 more than Chicago's 121 losses last year.Although the Rockies are not known as a winning franchise, their disastrous start this season boasts a catastrophic drop from previous years. In their 33 years as a team, Colorado has only nine winning seasons, and has only made the playoffs five times. The Rockies' most successful season […]
Hawks’ Dyson Daniels named NBA’s Most Improved Player with breakout season after trade
Getty Images Dyson Daniels has won the NBA's 2024-25 Most Improved Player award, the league announced on Wednesday. Daniels is now the second Atlanta Hawk to win the award, joining Alan Henderson who won in 1998. The Hawks acquired Daniels, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, in an offseason trade with the New Orleans Pelicans centered around Dejounte Murray. Daniels, along with Nikola Jokić, was one of two players who were named finalists for multiple awards. Daniels was also a Defensive Player of the Year finalist, but the honor went to Evan Mobley of the Cavaliers. Instead, he takes home the Most Improved Player trophy.There was no obvious Most Improved Player winner this season, but the race boiled down to three candidates. Pistons All-Star Cade Cunningham fit the more recent bill of a highly drafted star on […]
Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels wins NBA’s Most Improved Player award
Dyson Daniels has one of the NBA’s best nicknames, was nearly the league’s top defender and can now say he is the NBA’s Most Improved Player for the 2024-25 season.Daniels, who was born in Australia and is known as the “Great Barrier Thief,” exploded onto the scene for the Atlanta Hawks after two forgettable years in New Orleans. He beat out the Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham and LA Clippers’ Ivica Zubac for the NBA Most Improved Player honors on Wednesday, decided by a voting panel of 100 media members.The announcement was made on TNT before Game 5 of the first-round playoff series between the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets. The 2024-25 Kia NBA Most Improved Player is… Dyson Daniels!#NBAAwards | #KiaMIP | @Kia pic.twitter.com/GSaRR2lDfy — NBA (@NBA) April 30, 2025Daniels was acquired by Atlanta in the trade for Dejounte […]
Related
NFL Draft: Top 25 prospects for 2026, headlined by 4 QBs, several Clemson defenders and Ohio State’s ‘Monster Back’
The 2025 NFL Draft is so last week’s news. So here’s the top 25 for the 2026 NFL Draft. Because it’s always draft season.1. Peter Woods, DT, Clemson, JuniorA monster in the middle. That’s what Peter Woods is. A 6-foot-3, 315-pound interior game wrecker that has the athleticism to play on the outside, too. Woods is a powerful defender with light feet that plays hard and has the ability to impact the run or pass on every down. His top-notch combination of strength and agility would fit in any type of defense. Woods reminds me a lot of Jets star Quinnen Williams.2. Caleb Downs, S, Ohio State, JuniorSafety prospects, even the most talented and highly regarded ones, seldom go high in the first round of the draft. Caleb Downs is the type of defender, and just pure football player, to […]
Mike Trout left Wednesday’s Angels-Mariners game as a precaution with knee soreness
Mike Trout is dealing with another injury scare.The oft-injured three-time MVP left Wednesday's game between the Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners after running out a ground ball in the third inning.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAfter the game, manager Ron Washington told reporters that Trout felt soreness in his left knee when he hit the bag and that he was removed from the game as a precaution. It wasn't immediately clear when Trout will be able to return to the lineup.Here's the play in which Trout experienced his soreness. He sprinted to first base after hitting a ground ball and was called out on a close play.There was no immediate sign that Trout experienced any issues on the play. But the at-bat was his last of the day. He was replaced in the lineup by Jo Adell for his next scheduled at-bat. The Mariners […]
LIV Golf Korea preview: Can Brooks Koepka get his first win of the season?
<!--> LIV Golf wraps up the first half of the 2025 season with this week’s LIV Golf Korea presented by Coupang Play, the seventh tournament during the 14-event league schedule. Here is everything to know before the action begins live on FOX Sports.BASIC INFOWhen: May 2-4Where: Jack Nicklaus Golf Club KoreaADVERTISEMENT -->Competition: Three rounds/54 holes of stroke playField: 54 players – 13 teams of four players each, and two wild cardsShotgun Start local time Rd. 1, 11:05 a.m. (May 1, 10:05 p.m. ET)Rd. 2, 11:35 a.m. (May 2, 10:35 p.m. ET)Rd. 3, 12:25 p.m. (May 3, 11:25 p.m. ET)KEY STORYLINESLIV Golf makes its first visit to South Korea, which becomes the 10th different country to host a LIV Golf tournamentLIV Golf Korea marks the halfway point of the 2025 season, with six regular-season tournaments and the Michigan Team Championship scheduled for […]
Rockies claim the worst April record in MLB history despite snapping 8-game losing streak vs. Braves
A narrow 2-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday could not save the Colorado Rockies from claiming the worst April record in the history of Major League Baseball.After its 8-2 loss on Tuesday, Colorado bounced back, putting an end to an eight-game skid and giving them a 5-25 record.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLast season, the Chicago White Sox finished with the worst record in modern baseball but still tallied six victories by the end of April.According to The Athletic, the Rockies are on pace to lose 135 games, 14 more than Chicago's 121 losses last year.Although the Rockies are not known as a winning franchise, their disastrous start this season boasts a catastrophic drop from previous years. In their 33 years as a team, Colorado has only nine winning seasons, and has only made the playoffs five times. The Rockies' most successful season […]
Hawks’ Dyson Daniels named NBA’s Most Improved Player with breakout season after trade
Getty Images Dyson Daniels has won the NBA's 2024-25 Most Improved Player award, the league announced on Wednesday. Daniels is now the second Atlanta Hawk to win the award, joining Alan Henderson who won in 1998. The Hawks acquired Daniels, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, in an offseason trade with the New Orleans Pelicans centered around Dejounte Murray. Daniels, along with Nikola Jokić, was one of two players who were named finalists for multiple awards. Daniels was also a Defensive Player of the Year finalist, but the honor went to Evan Mobley of the Cavaliers. Instead, he takes home the Most Improved Player trophy.There was no obvious Most Improved Player winner this season, but the race boiled down to three candidates. Pistons All-Star Cade Cunningham fit the more recent bill of a highly drafted star on […]
Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels wins NBA’s Most Improved Player award
Dyson Daniels has one of the NBA’s best nicknames, was nearly the league’s top defender and can now say he is the NBA’s Most Improved Player for the 2024-25 season.Daniels, who was born in Australia and is known as the “Great Barrier Thief,” exploded onto the scene for the Atlanta Hawks after two forgettable years in New Orleans. He beat out the Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham and LA Clippers’ Ivica Zubac for the NBA Most Improved Player honors on Wednesday, decided by a voting panel of 100 media members.The announcement was made on TNT before Game 5 of the first-round playoff series between the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets. The 2024-25 Kia NBA Most Improved Player is… Dyson Daniels!#NBAAwards | #KiaMIP | @Kia pic.twitter.com/GSaRR2lDfy — NBA (@NBA) April 30, 2025Daniels was acquired by Atlanta in the trade for Dejounte […]
Be the first to leave a comment