Bulls 2023-24 Schedule: Top Games, Championship Odds and Record Predictions
The Chicago Bulls aren't going to look much different in 2023-24.
While they didn't make it out of the play-in tournament last season, the only major moves they made all offseason were the re-signings of Nikola Vučević and Coby White. They didn't even have a first-round draft pick, and the solid but unspectacular addition of Jevon Carter isn't exactly going to make a difference against the Eastern Conference's best teams.
The hope in the Windy City is that the core already in place takes another step and competes, otherwise there could be major moves next offseason as the franchise looks to reset and potentially even rebuild.
Chicago now knows the schedule it will face as it attempts to surprise and establish itself as a contender despite a relatively quiet offseason.
2023-24 Bulls Schedule Details
Season Opener: vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, Oct. 25, 8 p.m. ET
Championship Odds: +13000 (bet $100 to win $13,000), per FanDuel
Full Schedule: The full schedule is available on NBA.com.
Top Matchups
Toronto Raptors
There weren't many high-points during the Bulls' 2022-23 season, but the best moment came in the play-in tournament.
They overcame a 19-point deficit to defeat the Toronto Raptors in an entertaining game that saw Zach LaVine score 39 points and Diar DeRozan—the daughter of Bulls star DeMar DeRozan—distract the Raptors on the free-throw line with her screaming.
While Chicago was eliminated when it lost to the Miami Heat in the next game of the play-in tournament, the comeback against Toronto at least showed what it could do on a given night when LaVine catches fire.
The matchups against the Raptors will be important again this season because of the ceilings in place for both teams. The reality for the Bulls is that they are not in the same neighborhood as the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, Heat and other presumed top contenders in the Eastern Conference.
That means their best chance at making the playoffs and avoiding another play-in trip is by outlasting teams in similar situations, such as the Raptors.
Defeating Toronto in head-to-head matchups will go a long way toward the race for the No. 5 or 6 seed to avoid the play-in tournament or even the No. 7 seed to have home-court in the play-in tournament.
Atlanta Hawks
The importance of defeating the Raptors in head-to-head games to gain ground in the race for the coveted playoff spots above the play-in tournament cut line also applies to matchups with the Atlanta Hawks.
Atlanta was in the play-in tournament last season as the Eastern Conference's No. 7 seed and actually defeated the eventual conference champion Heat to advance to the playoffs. The Hawks had home-court advantage in that game against Miami and took advantage.
Even if Chicago is relegated to the play-in tournament again, having home-court advantage like that would create a scenario where it only had to win that first play-in tournament game to advance. Last season, the ninth-seeded Bulls didn't advance after defeating the Raptors and had to face Miami in another game.
The Hawks also provided something of a blueprint for mediocre teams getting hot at the right time when they advanced to the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals behind the star power of Trae Young.
Perhaps DeRozan and LaVine click at the right time this season and the Bulls find themselves advancing with ideal matchups just like Atlanta did in 2021 and Miami did last season.
The easiest way to do that is by climbing high enough in the standings to avoid the play-in tournament with head-to-head wins against the Hawks and others.
Season Forecast
There frankly isn't much reason to be optimistic about the Bulls in 2023-24.
For one, point guard Lonzo Ball is expected to miss the entire season after missing the 2022-23 campaign as well. He has played just 35 games with Chicago since it signed him ahead of the 2021-22 season.
The entire situation is unfortunate for both player and team, as the Bulls were atop the Eastern Conference standings in the early part of his first season. Yet they tumbled down to the No. 6 seed without him and then settled for the play-in tournament last season when he was sidelined.
LaVine and DeRozan represent a talented duo, but Ball was able to put them in ideal positions to score and could take advantage of the spacing the attention they drew created with his own outside shooting.
Without Ball, the Bulls are largely running things back with a group that is too talented to struggle enough to land favorable draft position but not formidable enough to compete with the best teams in the Eastern Conference.
The absolute ceiling for Chicago might be the second round, and that is probably unrealistic given its play-in exit a season ago with largely the same team.
Look for a similar showing to last season's 40-42 record.
