Caleb Wilson Is Averaging 21 a Game. The Bulls Are Still Minus-16.

Six games into the 2026-27 season, the Chicago Bulls have the worst point differential in the league at minus-15.8, a 1-5 record, and a defense surrendering 129.3 points per game. Both things are true, and the tension between them is the story of the Bulls' season so far.

Caleb Wilson, the No. 4 pick in June's draft, is averaging 21.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 34 minutes per game on 42.4 percent shooting, with 2.3 made threes a night. Over his last four games he's at 22.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.5 blocks in 34.8 minutes. The signature performance came in the home loss to Washington: 30 points and 14 rebounds on 10-of-24 shooting, with nine trips to the line and zero turnovers in 38 minutes. Friday in Boston he went 6-of-11 from deep for 23 points.

The debut was a mess — 16 points on 7-of-21 with nine turnovers in the 135-92 embarrassment in Toronto — and that's fine. Rookies are supposed to have a game like that. What matters is that the next five games looked nothing like it.

The contrast with Josh Giddey is unavoidable. Giddey is averaging 8.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 7.5 assists in 26.5 minutes on 39.6 percent shooting, a steep drop from the 17.0 points and 9.1 assists he posted a season ago. He opened with two points on 1-of-10 against the Raptors while disclosing a wrist injury, and the trade chatter has already started — Phoenix has been floated as a landing spot for a team hunting point guard depth. Whatever the Bulls decide, the on-court evidence is getting harder to argue with: the ball moves through Wilson now, and the offense is being built around him.

The problem is everything else. Chicago is shooting 28.2 percent from three while hoisting threes at a volume that suggests the opposite of caution — 259 attempts through six games, roughly 43 a night. That's a staggering miss rate for a team whose entire offensive identity, under first-year coach Tiago Splitter, is pace and volume. Matas Buzelis has been honest about the transition, admitting after the 134-99 loss in Boston that the group doesn't yet know what it's doing in the new system. Buzelis himself is at 14.5 points and 4.5 rebounds on 39.2 percent shooting, and he's been a minus-47 across his last five games.

The schedule hasn't helped. A season-opening back-to-back against Toronto and Milwaukee, then Washington, then two of Boston and a home date with the Knicks, is a baptism by fire for a roster this young. It continues Monday in Philadelphia against a 6-1 Sixers team allowing just 104.9 points per game, then a trip to New York, then the Sixers again at home.

None of this is a reason to panic about Wilson. If anything, the case for him is that he's producing this efficiently while sharing the floor with lineups that are getting outscored by nearly 20 points per 100 possessions over the last ten games. His plus-minus in the last four games is a modest plus-1.8, which counts as a minor miracle given the context.

What the Bulls need over the next month is a cleaner picture of who plays well next to their rookie. Giddey's fit is question one. Noa Essengue, at 3.6 points in 13.8 minutes a night, is question two — the team has committed minutes to him, and the payoff is theoretical for now. The record will probably stay ugly. The development curve, at least at the top, is not.