The Bulls’ hopes of participating in the play-in tournament were officially extinguished on Friday night thanks to the Wizards’ 120-105 victory over the Cavaliers. The Wizards actually started Chandler Hutchison and got another big performance from Daniel Gafford off the bench, so that’s funny in a twisted way.
The Bulls failing to make the play-in after their big trade deadline moves is undoubtedly disappointing. My misguided optimism thought they had a good chance to make the play-in before the moves, and I definitely thought they were going to afterward. But for a variety of reasons, including unlucky ones (namely Zach LaVine’s positive COVID-19 test), they just weren’t able to string together enough wins to make up for the Wizards going on a hot streak to end the season.