The Chicago Bulls selected Dailyn Swain with the 15th pick in the NBA draft. They had used the fourth overall selection on North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson earlier in the night. The choice at 15 came down to adding another wing, gambling on untested big men or selecting from a group of talented but undersized guards. Chicago landed on the Texas guard as a promising talent loaded with upside and a clear need for development.
Swain scored 1,509 points across four seasons at Columbus Africentric Early College. The school also produced WNBA guard Jordan Horston. Swain earned Ohio Division III Player of the Year honors in his final two seasons and collected first-team All-City and All-State recognition. He arrived at college as a four-star recruit ranked second in Ohio and 99th nationally in the class of 2023.
Swain spent his first two college seasons at Xavier. He made the Big East All-Freshman team after averaging 4.6 points per game before an appendectomy ended his rookie year. As a sophomore he started, posted 11.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, scored 11 points in a First Four victory over Texas and dropped a career-high 27 points in a first-round loss to Illinois. He then followed coach Sean Miller to Texas for his final season.
At Texas, Swain led the Longhorns in points, rebounds, assists, steals and minutes played. He became the only NCAA Division I player to pace his team in all five categories. The 6-foot-8 guard operates as an elite one-on-one creator who attacks the basket with urgency. He blends dribble moves and physical leverage to displace defenders, tucks into tight angles and finishes through contact at a high rate.
Swain proved especially effective at inviting physicality and using his size against college guards who could not bump him off his line or against bigs too slow to provide help. That versatility gives the Bulls a scorer capable of creating in the half court even when the ball is not in his hands on every possession. Executive vice president of basketball operations Bryson Graham, a Texas A&M graduate, recalled Swain playfully needling him about the Aggies during their draft-night call. The moment highlighted the rookie's intact Longhorn loyalty.
The selection fits a clear Bulls pattern of investing in high-upside wings who need refinement rather than immediate rotation pieces. Swain enters training camp with obvious priorities around perimeter shooting and defensive reads. Chicago will evaluate how quickly he adjusts to NBA spacing and physicality before determining a summer-league or G League path. His ability to lead a team in five major statistical categories at Texas supplies a foundation for growth if coaches can sharpen his decision-making. The addition arms the Bulls with another athletic creator who can stretch defensive matchups against teams that prioritized bigger frontcourt pieces in this draft.
Chicago Bulls 
