Thunder officially eliminate the Chicago Bulls from any postseason contention

Roster reset signals Bulls rebuild | Chicago Sports Tonight

Fox Chicago Team breaks down Bulls trades, talking to Nazareth Academy on alum in the Super Bowl, and WGN Radio's Charlie Roumeliotis.

It won't be the same old song and dance for the Chicago Bulls.

The reigning NBA Champion Oklahoma City Thunder, with a 131-113 win over the Bulls on Friday night, eliminated the Bulls from any postseason contention.

There won't be another NBA Play-In Tournament for the Bulls this year.

What we know:

The Chicago Bulls had a chance to stave off complete elimination for one more night.

The Bulls led the Thunder 67-62 at halftime, and took a lead deep into the third quarter.

But, the Bulls were not built to keep up with teams like Oklahoma City.

The Thunder, with reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, went on a 22-0 run to seize control of the game. OKC's defense suffocated the Bulls, whose young core didn't have enough to keep up with the Thunder.

That meant the Bulls' season will officially end when the NBA's regular season ends. No playoffs. No NBA Play-In Tournament.

Big picture view:

This could be a boon for the Bulls in the long run.

For the last three seasons, the Bulls have been mired in mediocrity. Not good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to earn a high NBA Draft pick to land a player that will turn around their roster.

That didn't sit well with the Bulls.

"Being in the middle is what we don't want to do," Bulls Vice President of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas said after the NBA trade deadline. "I think we’ve seen that for the past four years and we want to change that."

Karnisovas was the architect of the Bulls' last playoff roster that included Lono Ball, Nikola Vucevic, Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan.

It became clear this team wasn't good enough to seize a playoff berth after Ball's knee injury kept him off the court for nearly two years. LaVine's injuries hampered the team, too.

That led to three consecutive NBA Play-In Tournament berths for the Bulls. In each of those three tournament berths, the Bulls lost to the Miami Heat and never once advanced to the NBA Playoffs.

Karnisovas was adamant the Bulls could retool their roster while trying to compete for a playoff berth. That led to trades like Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey, and Ball for Isaac Okoro.

Those trades never fully moved the needle, though. This season, the rest of the Bulls' players who were considered fixtures on the team — Vucevic, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and more — have all since been traded away.

The middling became too much.

"We just stayed in the middle," Karnisovas said. "You know, we’d get to 500, then we'd get two or three games under. I mean, look at our standings. We’re going to be again in the ninth, 10th spot. It’s not good enough."

The Bulls, who never wanted to say the word "rebuild," have taken the biggest step in furthering their rebuild along with Friday's loss.

"I am still staying away from that word," Karnisovas said. "I would call it a stage we are in."

That stage required a step backwards. The Bulls officially took that step back on Friday night.

Now, they'll officially have a chance to land a high first-round draft pick in an NBA Draft that's considered one of the best in years.