Former Ohio State basketball star forward E.J. Liddell is reported to be the latest Chicago Bulls‘ 2024 training camp roster signing.
Liddell joins a Bulls training camp roster that already includes 2023 NBA G League Rookie of the Year Kenny Lofton Jr. and Simeon High School product Talen Horton-Tucker.
General manager Marc Eversley spoke to local Chicago media during the 2024 NBA Summer League and acknowledged the Bulls’ roster pivot toward younger players. The 2024 training camp signing appears to be no exception to the youth movement emphasis coming from Eversley and executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas.
Liddell and Horton-Tucker are 23 years old while Lofton Jr. is a 22-year-old. Horton-Tucker brings the most NBA experience of the three training camp signing with 247 career NBA regular season games, with notable limited minutes on the 2019-20 NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers roster that included former Bull Alex Caruso.
How much impact Liddell can deliver in training camp or whether he’ll still be in the Bulls organization beyond training camp are big questions he must answer. Liddell was scouted as a highly regarded prospect going into the 2022 NBA Draft. Projected as a late first-round draft pick, Liddell ultimately fell into the second round and was selected 41st overall.
Liddell’s rookie NBA season was cut short by a season-ending knee injury during the 2022 NBA Summer League. In his second NBA season, the 2023-24 regular season, Liddell appeared in eight games for the New Orleans Pelicans, which included assignments with the team’s League affiliate.
Liddell initially looked like a development prospect for the Atlanta Hawks when he was acquired from New Orleans Pelicans during the 2024 offseason. However, in less than one month Liddell was traded again by the to the Phoenix Suns and waived on Aug. 27.
