While everyone receives a piece of blame pie for the Chicago Bulls’ 129-113 loss to the Indiana Pacers, one slice is bigger than the others.

Patrick Williams finished the evening with one of his worst performances of the season. The fifth-year forward recorded only 2 points and 3 rebounds on 0-5 shooting from the field. This marked his lowest-scoring effort of the season and the first time he’s failed to register a single field goal since Nov. 17, 2023.

Pascal Siakam – Williams’ primary defensive assignment – led the Pacers with 26 points on 64.7 percent shooting from the field. He scored 16 of those points in the first half, ultimately setting the Pacers up for what would be a 19-point halftime lead and an all-too-easy victory. His inability to keep Siakam in check or find any sort of offensive rhythm led to Billy Donovan holding him to only 21 minutes on the night.

In a game against a team that scores the seventh-most points in the paint per game and has one of their best players at the power forward position, the Bulls needed Williams to put his best foot forward. Instead, he didn’t put any foot forward. And this only continues a painful trend for the former No. 4 overall pick.

Patrick Williams has scored single digits in 13 games this season. He is averaging only 9.7 points and 4.4 rebounds per game on a career-low 39.1 percent shooting display from the field. While he can at least point toward a 37.5 percent success rate behind the arc, it’s hard to get all that excited about when we consider all his other shortcomings.

Williams, who is an ultra-athletic six-foot-seven with a seven-foot wingspan and strong frame, isn’t supposed to be some sort of low-volume three-point specialist. He’s supposed to be taking some of the toughest defensive assignments, outworking opponents on the glass, and bulldozing them on their way to the basket. He’s supposed to be cutting hard for lobs and flashing some of his mid-range game off the bounce. This was supposed to be the year Williams took on more responsibility in the absence of DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso. After all, isn’t that what the Bulls paid him $90.0 million to do?

The 23-year-old deserved the benefit of the doubt to begin the year. He was coming off a season-ending foot surgery that kept him off the NBA court since January of 2025. However, nearing the halfway point of the season as a staple in the starting lineup, Williams has shown extremely little progress when it comes to positively impacting the game. He is on track to have his fifth straight season averaging nearly identical numbers. I think we can all agree that’s not a great look for someone the Bulls have deemed as essential as Williams.

Patrick Williams’ Career Stats
GMS MIN PTS REBS AST FG% 3P% FTA
2020-21 71 27.9 9.2 4.6 1.4 48.3 39.1 1.8
2021-22 17 24.8 9.0 4.1 0.9 52.9 51.7 2.4
2022-23 82 28.3 10.2 4.0 1.2 46.4 41.5 1.3
2023-24 43 27.3 10.0 3.9 1.5 44.3 39.9 1.5
2024-25 27 27.3 9.7 4.1 2.2 39.1 37.5 1.6
To make matters worse, Williams’ On/Off efficiency differential is also the lowest of his career at -8.0. Cleaning the Glass has this sitting inside the league’s 16th percentile, which further underscores how trivial Williams’ minutes have been.

Even Billy Donovan sounded a bit perplexed when challenged by the Sun-Times’ Joe Cowley on Williams’ poor play after Wednesday night’s ugly loss. While he attempted not to single out the young forward, it was clear he understood the reasoning behind the questioning:

“I think that tonight I could probably go down the list of everybody on the team, he included, who I think is more than capable of playing at a higher level than he played tonight. That’s kind of the consistency part that for him individually he’s fighting for … I think Patrick had every opportunity, just like every guy did, to step up and cement themselves in the game, make them felt in the game. Certainly, for him, he did not do that.”

Williams may be young, but the fact fans, reporters, and coaches alike are still calling for more consistent aggressiveness this far into his career speaks volumes. It also puts further into question the organization’s handling of his restricted free agency this offseason.

Why did the Bulls feel obligated to hand him $18.0 million a year for the next five seasons? Were there any other teams in the league offering even close to the same? Or was this another example of the front office getting high on their own supply? I have a guess!

To be sure, none of this is to say that Williams can’t turn a corner. He remains one of the youngest players on the team, and Bulls fans have seen players like Lauri Markkanen and Coby White hit their strides further into their respective careers. Patience can always pay off.