With the 2025-2026 Bulls going nowhere fast, trades had to be made at the deadline. Among them was fan-favorite and local legend Ayo Dosunmu being dealt to the Minnesota Timberwolves alongside Julian Phillips.
The return for Dosunmu and Phillips included Leonard Miller, who was in the middle of his third season with the Timberwolves but barely had gotten any minutes on a team that had just reached back-to-back Western Conference finals. Perhaps an opportunity to play more with a team that was hitting the reset button would be more beneficial to him.
All Miller has done since coming over from Minnesota is everything. In 27 games after the trade deadline last season, he earned his first 12 starts and averaged 11.7 points a game, which was more than six times the number he averaged before the trade. In fact, he improved upon his career numbers in just about everything except free-throw percentage, which he matched.
In 22 games after the All-Star break, Miller was second on the Bulls in both field-goal percentage (.551) and offensive rebounds (1.9), fourth in rebounds with 6.1 and fifth in scoring with 12.5 points a game. In other words, it was hard to find many players on the roster at that time who could do that much of everything.
Miller has answered every call so far
Miller's effectiveness continued during this past preseason. In preparing for his first full campaign in Chicago, he was the leading scorer with 16.4 points a game and second in rebounding with an average of 6.4. Even though the games didn't count for anything officially, they nonetheless indicated that he was picking up where he left off.
It happens so often in the NBA where a player who is stuck on the bench because of more talent on one team suddenly gets an opportunity with another team and thrives. There are a lot of good players in the league, and some of them never get to show their stuff because they find themselves in this exact situation.
It's true that the Bulls will receive attention this year mainly because of Caleb Wilson, Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey. If opponents overlook Miller while preparing to face the Bulls though, they do so at their own risk. Miller, whose 23rd birthday is Nov. 26, finally has been allowed to let loose, and he's taking advantage of that.
This being a development year for the Bulls, the time is right for Miller to establish himself as part of a future Bulls core. So far, he's been able to answer the call. The question is whether he'll be able to adjust to the NBA as it adjusts to him. That always is a question worth asking when a young player is on a scorcher.
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