The2009–10Chicago Bulls season was the 44th season of the franchise in theNational Basketball Association (NBA). They finished with a record of 41-41 (.500) for the third time in their past five seasons.

In the playoffs, the Bulls lost to theCleveland Cavaliers in five games in the First Round.

• June 25: The2009 NBA draft took place in New York City.
• July 1: Start of thefree agency period.

On May 20, the Bulls promotedGar Forman toGeneral Manager. Former GMJohn Paxson accepted a new role as executive vice president of basketball operations.^[1] Forman's top priority for the offseason was to re-signBen Gordon.^[2]Ben Gordon signed with theDetroit Pistons on July 1, 2009.^[3]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	School/Club team
1	16	James Johnson	F	United States	Wake Forest
1	26	Taj Gibson	F	United States	USC

On July 13, 2009, the Bulls signed guardJannero Pargo to a one-year deal, helping to fill the void Ben Gordon made in leaving the team.^[4] On July 14, the Bulls re-signed guardLindsey Hunter with a one-year contract.^[5]

On January 25, 2010, the Bulls traded centerAaron Gray for guardDevin Brown of theNew Orleans Hornets. On February 18, 2010, the Bulls traded guardJohn Salmons for forwardsHakim Warrick andJoe Alexander of theMilwaukee Bucks. Meanwhile, the Bulls traded forwardTyrus Thomas for guardsRonald Murray andAcie Law of theCharlotte Bobcats.^[6]

The Bulls managed to clinch the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference over theToronto Raptors near the final day of the regular season. This marked the fifth time in six years Chicago has made the playoffs. With the lowest seed they faced the number one rankedCleveland Cavaliers. Poised to win a championshipLeBron James and the Cavs defeated the Bulls 4 games to 1 with the over-matched Bulls making a valiant effort in game 5, losing 96–94.

¹Stats with the Bulls.

• Joakim Noah was named the Bulls CDW/HP Solutions Player of the Month for November.^[7]
• Derrick Rose was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the week of December 28.^[8]
• Derrick Rose was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for April. During this month, he averaged 25.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 7 assists.^[9]

• Derrick Rose selected to Eastern Conference All-Star Team as a reserve.

• Taj Gibson was named to theNBA All-Rookie First Team.^[10]

First team to win five consecutive games over opponents over .500 on the road

• On September 29,Aaron Gray suffered a stress fracture of his left fibula. This was determined after he developed a lower leg pain the week of September 26 and he was projected to miss six-eight weeks.^[11][12] On November 16, Gray, still out because of the stress fracture, was admitted to the hospital because of fluid build-up in his right knee.^[13] Gray returned to the line-up to make his season début November 26 against theUtah Jazz.^[14]
• On November 6,Tyrus Thomas fractured his left radius during a weight training session. He underwent surgery on November 7 and is projected to miss four to six weeks of the season.^[12][15]
• On November 25,Kirk Hinrich sprained his left thumb during practice. Though initially feared to be a similar injury the previous season where he tore the ligaments of his right thumb, an MRI and subsequent examinations confirmed it to only be a sprain and he will only miss one to two weeks.^[16][17]

• 2009–10 NBA season

• 2009–10 Chicago Bulls season at Basketball Reference
• 2009–10 Chicago Bulls season at ESPN

• Chicago Bulls seasons
• 2009–10 NBA season by team
• 2009 in sports in Illinois
• 2010 in sports in Illinois

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• Use mdy dates from August 2023