The Chicago Bulls finished their preseason schedule against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the United Center on Sunday night, a final exhibition that gave Chicago one last look before the games start to count. Tiago Splitter said the normal starters would play at least a half, but the matchup also carried an asterisk: Minnesota was not bringing several of its top players along for the night.
That is why the search interest is there now. The game was set for 7:00 PM CT and carried on Chicago Sports Network, with the Bulls coming in 2-2 after their first four preseason games and fresh off a 125-104 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Chicago had also turned the ball over 21 times in that win, a reminder that even a strong result still left work to do before the preseason ended.
The last tune-up mattered because it was Chicago's final dress rehearsal, and the Bulls have used as many live-game minutes as they reasonably can to evaluate a young roster. Six Bulls finished in double digits against Milwaukee, and Caleb Wilson had already been getting plenty of run, including minutes at the end of the fourth quarter, which showed how the staff has leaned into real-game reps instead of static practice work.
But this game could only tell part of the story. Minnesota chose not to play Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball, Rudy Gobert, and Ayo Dosunmu, so the Timberwolves were essentially taking the night off and limiting how much the matchup could reveal about either side. That made the Bulls' side of the floor more useful as a test, but it also meant the preseason finale was less a head-to-head measuring stick than a final check on Chicago's own rotation and habits.
What comes next is straightforward for the Bulls and much less clear for the game itself: the preseason is over, the evaluation window narrows, and the minutes Chicago has spent on players like Wilson now have to show up when the results matter.
