Caleb Wilson Is the Bulls’ Fourth Pick. The Last Tar Heel They Took Third Turned Out Okay.
The Bulls have done this before. In 1984, Houston took Hakeem Olajuwon first and Portland took Sam Bowie second. Chicago took a North Carolina guard named Michael Jordan third.
On June 23, 2026, the Bulls went back to Chapel Hill and took forward Caleb Wilson with the fourth pick.
Let me be clear right up front. There will never be another Michael Jordan. Nobody should ask Caleb Wilson to be that. But it is my opinion that Wilson has the potential to be another great NBA player to come out of North Carolina. Period. It’s a bit presumptive, but he certainly has the potential to join MJ, James Worthy, Vince Carter, and Walter Davis as Hall of Famers whose careers passed through Chapel Hill. I’d add Billy Cunningham, Bob McAdoo, and Charlie Scott if those young fans will remember them as well.
Two Tar Heels, Two Bulls Draft Picks
Jordan arrived in Chicago after a 27-55 season. He won Rookie of the Year in 1985, averaging 28.2 points a game. Wilson arrives with a lot of attention on him too, and the Bulls are already trying to manage it, although the expectations will be high.
At Monday’s media day, a reporter asked Bulls executive VP Bryson Graham and new head coach Tiago Splitter what they expect from Wilson as a rookie. Graham confirmed the outside expectations are high. “Caleb is pretty outspoken, but internally we know it’s a season of growth and development,” he said. “We have to be okay with giving him grace throughout this year. He’s gonna have some ups and downs. There’s gonna be some progress and then there’s gonna be some regression.”
Yet Splitter didn’t put a ceiling on him. “He’s a number four pick and every day he’s showing us why he’s a number four pick,” Splitter said. “It’s really hard to put a floor or a ceiling on him. What’s that gonna be, I don’t know.”
What He Did at Carolina and in Vegas
Wilson played one season at UNC and a hand injury limited him to 24 games. In those 24 he averaged 19.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocks. He led the Tar Heels in scoring, rebounding, steals and blocks. There was no doubt he was going to be a “one-and-done” player. Only one other freshman in Carolina history has done that, Tyler Hansbrough.
Then came Summer League in Las Vegas, where Wilson scored 35 points in his debut, hitting seven threes. That was the second most ever by a player in a Vegas debut. He averaged 23.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, and 1.3 steals per game for the Bulls during the 2026 NBA Summer League.
He isn’t perfect. Wilson shot 26 percent from three in college, and he led Summer League with 5.3 turnovers a game while making only a third of his free throws. Jordan wasn’t a finished product either. He shot 17 percent from three as a rookie. But he did make 84.5 percent of his free throws, which is the number Wilson has to fix at the line. Shooting can be taught.
Is It the Same Player?
Another reporter asked Splitter and Graham if the guy from Vegas is the same guy they are seeing in scrimmages against NBA players, or if reality slapped him a little. Splitter said yes, the same quality, though he admitted open gym in September is not the real deal when the lights are on.
Graham added, “He just plays the right way. He’s so skilled,” He went so far as to describe Wilson standing next to Splitter for a photo, looking his new coach “eye to eye,” at six-foot-ten and a half, which reminds me of Dean Smith who famously said, “You can’t teach height.”
“Multi-positional, versatile, and tries to make the right play,” Graham said. He also noted that in the pickup games Wilson has not come out thinking he’s going to shoot every time. “He’s still trying to make the right play and that’s just who he is. He goes to North Carolina, he’s playing a four and a five. He gets to Summer League and all of a sudden he’s playing on the perimeter.”
Someone asked how short a leash Wilson will be on. Splitter said he isn’t yanking anybody over one turnover. “But if there is something we’ve been talking about trying to work on, I say turnovers, and he got four in a row, well he’s got to sit here with me for a little bit and we’ll talk,” Splitter said. He also said young players develop on the bench too. “You develop when you sit on the bench probably more than if you’re just out there doing whatever you want.”
Work Ethic
When asked about Wilson’s push to change the culture, Splitter said his work ethic is “out of the roof.” Graham told a story to back it up. “If I’m at the office till 7:30, till 7 o’clock, and I hear music and a ball bouncing, I almost bet just about everything I have it’s going to be Caleb Wilson when I look out the window,” Graham said. “You have to protect him from himself.”
In Caleb’s Words
I asked Wilson a question at media day. I wanted to know how his time at North Carolina prepared him for the NBA. “It did a lot for me, honestly,” Wilson said. “More mental than physical. Playing for a team that always has so many eyes on them, really one of the faces of college basketball, it made me approach basketball and approach the media and approach everything differently because I was prepared for it.”
That was a thoughtful, informative answer, and it was incredibly mature for a 20-year-old NBA rookie. He was that way with every question he got that day.
Jordan always credited Dean Smith and that program for the same thing.
The rest of the room had plenty for him too. Asked about his goals, Wilson said he doesn’t have any statistical targets. “I’m more of a process guy than an outcome guy,” he said. He told the room he reads about stoicism. “I can’t control whether a shot goes in, but I can control everything I do to try to make it go in.”
On leadership, he said he won’t try to blend in. “In my opinion there’s no leadership by blending in,” Wilson said. “I’m gonna lead by example.” As a rookie, he thinks people respect actions before words. He also said what he wants from the Bulls is simple. “I just need someone who believes in me or an organization that believes in me. If you believe in me, you give me an opportunity to grow and make mistakes. I’m going to get better.”
Asked how long it will take to get comfortable against NBA players, Wilson said he doesn’t expect it to be long. “Most things are really mental at the NBA. The more I learn, it’ll come to me.”
He also has a fan in his point guard. Asked about Josh Giddey, Wilson said, “It’s very rare that I feel like someone passes the ball better than me, but he does. He’s a wizard with it. If you gotta run, Josh is gonna get it to you.” Then he added that this is why he spent the summer working on his conditioning.
Wilson said he wants to be in better shape so he can use his athleticism for the full length of games. He also said he learned Chicago cares about winning. “I feel like I can really play for that,” he said.
The Bottom Line
Jordan went third and Wilson went fourth. One of them won six championships, and the other hasn’t played a regular season game yet. But a 20-year-old who shows up early, stays late, and knows what he needs to work on is a good place to start. I like where this is headed. Let’s see what the fourth pick can do.
