Chicago Bulls rookie forward Noa Essengue made an impressive G League debut on Tuesday, putting up 28 points in 29 minutes for the Windy City Bulls, as noted by Julie Poe of The Chicago Tribune.
Despite the strong showing, Essengue’s path to NBA minutes remains unchanged – Chicago still views him as a long-term project and doesn’t plan to alter his development timeline, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.
Head coach Billy Donovan praised parts of Essengue’s performance but emphasized that scoring alone won’t determine his NBA readiness.
“I think sometimes you can get preoccupied with the scoring aspect of it,” Donovan said. “I know he had a big night offensively, but if he’s getting out in transition, getting to the backboard, slashing, cuts, that’s great.”
Donovan added that Essengue still has several key areas to improve before earning a full-time rotation role.
“I think we all know the shooting part of it needs to continue to develop, his body needs to continue to develop, but can he get things into the game we’re going to need him to?” he said.
Central Notes: Giannis, Pacers, Ball, Porter, Essengue https://t.co/CtpENE4JoH pic.twitter.com/dXU5k5SycX
— Hoops Rumors (@HoopsRumors) November 13, 2025
