Is Patrick Williams the 11th man for the Chicago Bulls?

ATLANTA — Nearly 15 minutes into Sunday’s win over the Hawks in Atlanta, Patrick Williams walked to the scorer’s table and began going through his blackout warm-up.

There were only five minutes and nine seconds left in the first quarter. Williams was set to become the fifth player to come off the Chicago Bulls bench.

For a minute, Williams looked confident. Mastered. On his first offensive possession, he grabbed a pass at the top of the key and drove downhill for a layup, rolling the ball off his fingers and over the rim. This is not new. The game seemed easy. Basketball often seems easy when things are going well for Williams.

But Williams became a blur during the match. He hung on the perimeter, grabbed a few offensive boards, and fired a shot from behind the arc. Then he remained on the bench for the entire second quarter. Williams got two more turnovers in the second half – less than three minutes each – and finished with just four points, all scored in the first quarter.

This isn’t new either. Williams is averaging 19.8 minutes per game, ninth on the Bulls’ roster. Over the last four games, he’s fallen to the 11th man on the roster, playing just 12.1 minutes per game.

Coach Billy Donovan says this isn’t necessarily the end of the game for Williams. The Bulls are still figuring out how — and when — to use a dual formation, which often pushes backups to the edge of the rotation. But as the Bulls recalibrate around returning injured players, it’s clear that Williams is losing priority on the team’s depth chart.

“At some point, it’s going to take some sacrifice for everyone,” Donovan said. “I wouldn’t sit there and say in my mind, okay, he’s just the 11th guy and that’s it. I don’t know what’s going to happen with our team going forward. But I think Patrick can help.”

And that doesn’t change the reality for the Bulls: The team’s highest-drafted player over the past 17 years is confined to a minimal role off the bench.

Donovan knows that when evaluating a player’s potential, most fans look to the same place: where a guy was selected. This never worked in Williams’ favor. The forward has carried the weight of the No. 4 pick since he was drafted in 2020. For most of that time, that weight has been too much.

The 2020 draft was not the most spectacular in league history. (Three of the top 10 picks from that year are now on the Bulls’ roster.) Still, a top-five pick is expected to be a caliber player capable of changing the trajectory of an organization’s future. Instead, Williams continues to be a non-factor.

If anything, this season has been a step backwards for Williams. He lost contact at point-blank range, shooting a baffling 44.4% from the rim. His 3-point shooting remains his only strength, shooting 40.7 percent from deep to make more shots from behind the arc than from the rim. Otherwise, Williams is a quiet presence waiting in the wings for the Bulls.

“I have to accept Patrick for what he does and how he contributes as a player,” Donovan said. “There have been times where he’s been really, really, really effective and then there’s maybe other times where he hasn’t been.”

It’s easy to give Williams hope. Donovan even says it himself: Just looking at his 6-foot-6 frame and obvious strength, it’s hard not to project the image of a future All-Star onto the forward.