Chicago Bulls Trivia
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7correct to beat the crowd
50 free Chicago Bulls trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Chicago Bulls trivia quiz runs from the franchise's birth in 1966, when a former pro player picked a one-syllable name that nodded to the stockyards, through the lean years, the coin flip that cost the team a legend, and the draft that changed everything. The heart of it is the 1990s: two three-peats, a record-setting season, the sidekicks and specialists who made the dynasty work, and the shot that closed it out. There are also questions on the arena and the one it replaced, the mascot, the player-introduction music, the annual circus road trip, the post-dynasty rebuild, the hometown MVP and the trades and lottery luck of the last twenty years. Easy questions suit a game-night crowd; the harder ones on records, draft positions and dates are for people who remember Craig Hodges and Bill Wennington. Every answer has been checked against encyclopaedia entries and league records, and each question shows its explanation and source after you answer.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which offensive system, taught by assistant coach Tex Winter, powered the Bulls' six title teams?
The triangle offense
The triangle offense keeps players spaced and moving without the ball, which made it far harder for defences to send two men at Michael Jordan.
Q 02Which team won the two titles between the Bulls' three-peats?
Rockets
The Houston Rockets won in 1994 and 1995, the two seasons Michael Jordan spent mostly away from the NBA trying his hand at professional baseball.
Q 03The Bulls share their home arena, the United Center, with which NHL team?
Blackhawks
The Blackhawks' owners, the Wirtz family, once ran the Bulls as well, and the two clubs' owning families went on to build the United Center together.
Q 04Who reportedly sealed Dick Klein's choice of team name by saying 'That's a bunch of bull!'?
His son
His son Mark, a small boy at the time, blurted it out while the family tossed names around; Klein had already rejected Matadors and Toreadors as too long to win with.
Q 05Which 1970s Bulls star, nicknamed 'The Original Bull', later coached against Chicago in two NBA Finals?
Jerry Sloan
Jerry Sloan arrived for the team's first season and was the first Bull to have his number retired; two decades later he was on the opposing bench as Chicago won its last two titles.
Q 06What did the 1966–67 Bulls become the first NBA expansion team to do in a debut season?
Qualifying for the playoffs
Qualifying for the playoffs on a 33–48 record, then the best by any expansion side, earned Johnny "Red" Kerr the Coach of the Year award in the team's very first season.
Q 07What is the name of the Bulls' mascot, introduced in 1969?
Benny the Bull
Benny the Bull began as a crowd-pulling stunt: a showman general manager, Pat Williams, brought him in when attendance had slumped, and the gimmick worked.
Q 08Which player did the Bulls miss out on in 1979 after losing a coin flip for the first pick?
Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson went first overall after Bulls general manager Rod Thorn called heads and lost the toss; Chicago settled for David Greenwood with the second pick.
Q 09Who went one pick before the Bulls took Michael Jordan in 1984?
Sam Bowie
Sam Bowie went second, it is thought because the team choosing there already had a young shooting guard in Clyde Drexler and wanted a big man; repeated leg injuries then undermined his career.
Q 10Michael Jordan scored 63 points in a 1986 playoff game against which team?
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics still won the game and swept the series, but Larry Bird said he had faced "God disguised as Michael Jordan"; the 63 was still a playoff record in 2025.
Q 11Scottie Pippen was acquired on 1987 draft night in a swap for which centre the Bulls had just picked eighth?
Olden Polynice
Olden Polynice was the bait in a swap planned in advance: Chicago had eyed Pippen before the draft, took Polynice eighth and traded him the same night for the fifth pick.
Q 12Which team eliminated the Bulls in the playoffs three years in a row from 1988 to 1990?
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons beat Chicago three years running and won two titles; when the Bulls finally swept them in 1991, several Pistons walked off without shaking hands.
Q 13Which coach did Phil Jackson replace as Bulls head coach in 1989?
Doug Collins
Q 21Which team broke the 1995–96 Bulls' record of 72 wins?
Warriors
The Golden State Warriors won 73 and then lost the Finals from 3–1 up, so the 72-win Bulls were still, as of 2025, the winningest team to go on and take the title.
Q 22Which team, having knocked Chicago out of the 1995 playoffs, handed the 1995–96 Bulls their first defeat?
Orlando Magic
The Orlando Magic, with former Bull Horace Grant, ended a 5–0 start in November; Chicago answered by sweeping them in the conference finals.
Q 23Whom did the Bulls beat in the 1996 Finals for their fourth title?
Seattle SuperSonics
The Seattle SuperSonics lost the deciding game on Father's Day, and Jordan, whose father had been murdered three years earlier, wept on the locker-room floor clutching the ball.
Doug Collins was replaced straight after taking the Bulls to the conference finals; his own assistant took over and won six titles with the core Collins had coached.
Q 14Whom did the Bulls beat in the 1991 NBA Finals for their first championship?
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers took the opening game in Chicago and then lost four in a row; it was their last Finals for nine years and Michael Jordan's first.
Q 15Whose three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left won Game 6 of the 1993 Finals in Phoenix?
John Paxson
John Paxson's shot was the only basket any Bull other than Jordan scored in the whole fourth quarter, and it turned a 98-96 deficit into a third straight title.
Q 16In March 1995 Michael Jordan announced his return to the Bulls with a statement of which two words?
"I'm back."
"I'm back." was the whole statement; he came back in a No. 45 jersey rather than his famous 23, and switched back during that spring's playoffs.
Q 17Which Croatian rookie forward joined the Bulls in 1993 and later won Sixth Man of the Year?
Toni Kukoč
Toni Kukoč hit a buzzer-beater against the Knicks in his first playoffs, on a play that so angered Scottie Pippen, who wanted the shot himself, that Pippen refused to go back on court.
Q 18Whose jump shot off a pass from Michael Jordan won the 1997 title in Game 6?
Steve Kerr
Steve Kerr was wide open because the defence sent two men at Jordan, whom everyone expected to shoot; Kerr hit from 17 feet with five seconds left.
Q 19Which centre, acquired from Minnesota in 1994, was the first Australian to play in the NBA?
Luc Longley
Luc Longley cost the Bulls only Stacey King in the swap, and went on to start at centre for all three title teams of 1996 to 1998.
Q 20Whom did the Bulls send to San Antonio in 1995 to acquire Dennis Rodman?
Will Perdue
Will Perdue was the whole price for the league's best rebounder: Chicago needed a power forward after Horace Grant left as a free agent, and Rodman filled the hole.
Q 24Michael Jordan's 1989 series-winning buzzer-beater, known as 'The Shot', eliminated which team?
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers had won all six regular-season meetings and led by a point with three seconds left when Jordan hung in the air over Craig Ehlo and scored.
Q 25Which team did the Bulls beat in both the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals?
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz had never reached the Finals before 1997, then ran into Chicago two years running; both series ended in Game 6 on a late Bulls shot.
Q 26Michael Jordan's 1992 Finals shrug came against which team?
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers watched him hit six three-pointers in the first half of Game 1; after the sixth he turned to the broadcast table and shrugged, as surprised as anyone.
Q 27Which team pushed the 1998 Bulls to a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals?
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers, under rookie coach Larry Bird, won every game on their own floor, so Chicago needed an 88–83 win at home in the decider just to reach its last Finals.
Q 28Which player did Jordan strip before his title-winning shot in Game 6 of the 1998 Finals?
Karl Malone
Karl Malone had just taken a pass in the post with his team a point ahead when Jordan stole the ball from him, dribbled upcourt and scored over Bryon Russell with 5.2 seconds left.
Q 29Which Bulls general manager, at odds with coach Phil Jackson, rebuilt the roster after the 1998 title?
Jerry Krause
Jerry Krause had assembled all six title teams; he was also widely quoted as saying that organisations, not players and coaches, win championships.
Q 30Which college coach replaced Phil Jackson in 1998 and went 13–37 in the Bulls' first season after the dynasty?
Tim Floyd
Tim Floyd came from Iowa State to a roster stripped of Jordan, Pippen and Rodman, and things got so bad that his team once scored only 49 points in a game.