The Chicago Bulls picked up Australian forward Lachlan Olbrich with the No. 55 pick Thursday night after trading down in the second round of the NBA draft.<\/p>\n
The Bulls made a swap Thursday morning with the Los Angeles Lakers, trading the No. 45 pick for the 55th pick and cash considerations.<\/p>\n
A native of Adelaide, Olbrich started his professional career in the Australian National Basketball League in 2021 at age 17. He came to the U.S. and played one year of college basketball at UC Riverside, where he was named Big West Freshman of the Year after averaging 11.4 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists.<\/p>\n
Despite that success with the Highlanders, Olbrich opted to return to Australia in 2023, signing with the Illawarra Hawks. He averaged 8.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists last season with the Hawks.<\/p>\n
Being drafted by the Bulls could mean an Australian reunion for Olbrich and guard Josh Giddey<\/a>, who is expected to re-sign in restricted free agency. The pair never overlapped with the Adelaide 36ers \u2014 Giddey departed the program in April 2021 to declare for the NBA draft, and Olbrich signed with the team six months later \u2014 but they followed a similar path through Australia\u2019s developmental pipeline.<\/p>\n Olbrich is an interesting addition to the Bulls frontcourt. He brings an old-school motor in the post but doesn\u2019t produce a ton of scoring or shot blocking \u2014 plus he\u2019s a touch undersized at 6-foot-9, confining him to the power forward position.<\/p>\n His profile might sound somewhat similar to former Bull Adama Sanogo, who spent most of his tenure in Chicago with the G League\u2019s Windy City Bulls after signing a two-way deal as an undrafted player in 2023. Olbrich is a bit more mobile than Sanogo and can rely more heavily on his passing and physicality to make an impact, but he\u2019ll have a decent amount of development ahead of him before he can earn NBA minutes.<\/p>\n