The Chicago Bulls are set to commemorate 13 former individuals, including players, coaches, and executives, as they inaugurate the Ring of Honor this week. This esteemed group encompasses icons such as Michael Jordan, renowned coaches like Phil Jackson, and the 1996 team, which achieved a league record of 72 wins.
However, the Bulls won’t induct another class into the Ring of Honor until 2026. This leads to the question: who will be the next additions?
Future selections will face stringent criteria. Every individual in the inaugural class either resides in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame or has their jersey retired by the Bulls. The chosen coaches and front office members—Jackson, Dick Klein, Tex Winter—are synonymous with Bulls history.
The 2026 class won’t feature players like Derrick Rose or Pau Gasol due to the Bulls’ selection prerequisites: retirees must have a minimum of three years since leaving the game and should have played for the Bulls for at least three seasons.
Here are five potential candidates for the upcoming class.
1. Horace Grant
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Years with Bulls: 1987—1994
Grant, a key member of three championship-winning teams from 1991 to 1993, epitomized the Bulls defense throughout the first half of their decade of dominance. During his stint with the Bulls, he earned four All-Defensive selections and had a crucial block in Game 5 of the 1993 NBA Finals against the Phoenix Suns.
In 2016, he returned to the program as an ambassador and adviser for the Bulls.
2. The 1990-91 team
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This was the Bulls’ first team to pass the last hurdle, ushering in a new era of supremacy that no other NBA organization has quite matched.
The Bulls finished 61-21, and Michael Jordan won his first MVP award in the 1990-91 regular season. The club whitewashed the Detroit Pistons in the conference finals before defeating Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 in the finals.
Along with current Ring of Honor inductees Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, this lineup featured franchise veterans John Paxson, Will Perdue, and Stacey King. The Bulls drafted Toni Kukoč in 1990, but he did not join the team until 1993.
3. Dick Motta
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Years with Bulls: 1968-1976
A critical leader in the early years of the franchise’s history, Motta was the second coach in the history of the Bulls.
Motta led the Bulls to four consecutive 50-win seasons between 1970 and 1974, winning Coach of the Year in 1971. Although he never took the team past the then-Western Conference finals, Motta finished his run with the Bulls with a 356-300 record.
4. Joakim Noah
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Years with Bulls: 2007-2016
Noah is the most contemporary player who is likely to land in the Ring of Honor.
Over nine seasons with the Bulls, Noah was a two-time All-Star and won Defensive Player of the Year in 2014. Although he was never able to lead the Bulls past the conference finals, Noah was a staple of the team’s most recent series of success from 2011 to 2015.
5. Norm Van Lier
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Years with Bulls: 1971-1978
Another key member of the founding era of Bulls history, Van Lier was one of the most popular players in the league — and in Chicago — in the 1970s.
He was a three-time All-Star with the Bulls and earned three All-Defense honors. After his playing career, Van Lier returned to Chicago to serve as a Bulls radio announcer from 1980 to 1982, then as the team’s pre- and postgame television analyst from 1992 until his death in 2009.
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