Patrick Williams

Current Sentiment

Patrick Williams is one of the most scrutinized players in the Eastern Conference right now, and the public sentiment around him has cratered to a level that feels almost unrecoverable without a dramatic shift — the narrative is that bad. The core of the problem is structural: a career PER of 8.2 and a scoring average below 10 points per game through six seasons have made it nearly impossible to defend the $18M AAV attached to his name, and the broader NBA media has moved well past cautious skepticism into open questioning of whether Chicago still views him as a franchise cornerstone at all. Head coach Billy Donovan's attempts to frame Williams's development in a positive light have largely been received as organizational spin rather than genuine conviction, which is a brutal place for a 24-year-old lottery pick's reputation to land. His 2025-26 season numbers — 6.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 1.3 APG across 61 games — align with a C+ performance grade that reflects a below-average starter at best, giving his defenders very little ammunition to push back against the wave of skepticism. The emergence of reported trade discussions involving Williams and Jalen Smith, combined with Chicago's mid-season roster shuffling — acquiring Rob Dillingham and Leonard Miller via trade while cutting Jaden Ivey — signals a front office actively reconfiguring its identity, and Williams increasingly looks like a piece being moved around the board rather than a building block. With the Bulls sitting at 31-51 and well outside the playoff picture as the league approaches its postseason, there is zero urgency to protect his standing in the public eye. This narrative is at a genuine low point, and absent a clean break via trade or a reshaped role, Williams heads into the offseason carrying the weight of one of the more disappointing developmental arcs tied to a lottery investment in recent memory.