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Chicago Bulls introduce Bryson Graham as Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations.
It's a new era for the Chicago Bulls. The franchise introduced Bryson Graham as its next Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations on Wednesday afternoon.
It was a new day for the Chicago Bulls. There's a new leader in the clubhouse.
Bryson Graham was introduced as the team's new Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations. The 39-year-old front office leader will take over after learning in New Orleans and reshaping Atlanta's front office.
Here's what we learned from Bryson Graham's introduction as the Bulls' new EVP of Basketball Operations.
Michael Reinsdorf is not passive
The first words officially opening a new era of the Chicago Bulls weren’t glee or elation. In fact, they were somber.
Michael Reinsdorf’s first order of business was to apologize to Bulls fans everywhere.
"I need to say I'm sorry because the results just haven't been there," the Bulls President and CEO said.
After the Bulls finally bottomed out in the 2025-2026 season after years of toeing the NBA Play-In Tournament line, Reinsdorf made wholesale changes.
Those changes went into effect on Wednesday. Bryson Graham was introduced, and Reinsdorf is staying in his lane. He made it clear that Graham will have the final say on basketball operations decisions.
When Graham said the coaching search will be a collaborative effort, Reinsdorf stepped in.
"I picked you," Reinsdorf said. "You get to pick the coach."
That’s how it should be with owner-front office relations.
Graham has full autonomy. He’s going to have Reinsdorf’s blessing to make any moves he deems necessary with the most cap space available in the NBA, two first-round draft picks, two second-round draft picks and players who already have shown promise in Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey.
Reinsdorf also said the right things. Notably, when asked if the financial commitment would be there for the Bulls, Reinsdorf dispelled any qualms if he’d be willing to dip into the luxury tax to pay players properly.
"If we're competing for championships, we expect that we'll probably be in the luxury tax," Reinsdorf said. "I’m totally okay with that."
There are limits, though.
"I don't want to be in the luxury tax for a team that's not in the playoffs," Reinsdorf said.
Graham is rebuilding the Bulls from the ground up
One word that was always stricken from the Bulls’ vernacular under the Karnisovas regime was "rebuild."
The Bulls never wanted to commit to a full tear down to bring it back up. There’s no such limitation in Chicago now with Graham leading the charge.
When asked if the Bulls are committing to a rebuild, Graham didn’t mince words.
"Look at the record, right?" Graham said. "Just being honest."
Yeah, the Bulls are in a rebuild.
"We are in the rebuilding phase, and we're extremely young too," Graham said. "I'm not going to be up here and mince words and say we're further along."
That’s necessary after the team fell to a 31-51 record following a trade deadline fire sale that only netted the Bulls a bunch of second-round picks.
No one is untouchable. That wasn’t a shot at the talent the roster has now, either. Graham was open about the fact that few NBA players are untouchable. He could have even used Lakers star Luka Doncic as an example. Dallas traded him to Los Angeles in one of the most shocking trades in recent memory.
The MVP candidate certainly wasn’t untouchable. Neither are any rostered players the Bulls have now.
It’s all a part of the plan the Bulls have, which Graham said will not have any shortcuts.
Chicago Bulls to hire Bryson Graham to lead the team's front office
A new era for the Chicago Bulls begins now. According to the team, the franchise has sound it's next primary decision maker for its front office.
The Bulls got the vision and communicator they wanted
Just as Reinsdorf said the right things, so did Graham. The Bulls’ new front office leader made it clear where the Bulls are.
When asked what kind of players the Bulls want, Graham didn’t shy away from describing what the modern-day NBA looks like: Versatile players who can make winning plays.
"That's kind of how we're going to look at our evaluation, and that's going to be our approach," Graham said. "We want to be tough, and we want to be long and athletic in every position."
Previous regimes danced around the question if the Bulls were going to rebuild. They’d counter with the term "re-tooling." Graham made it clear the Bulls want to find star players, too.
You can only do that if you start fresh.
"Most rebuild situations is when you don't have star-caliber players," Graham said.
What about the next Bulls’ coach?
The Bulls have their front office leader. They’ll need a head coach soon, too.
Graham doesn’t have a clear timeline for the next Bulls’ coach. He said he’s working on settling into his new job first, and doesn’t have a long list of candidates.
But, he knows what he wants.
"We're going to try to find a coach that can coach both sides of the ball and care about both sides of the ball, and then develop these guys as they're obviously young in their careers," Graham said.