The 2004–05 Chicago Bulls season was the 39th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Bulls stumbled out of the gate as they lost their first nine games on their way to a horrendous 3–14 start. However, they would win 13 of their 16 games in January plus winning nine straight games at the end of March. The Bulls finished second in the Central Division with a record of 47–35, and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1998. Top draft pick Ben Gordon became the first rookie to win the Sixth Man of The Year Award. However, injuries were an issue as Luol Deng was out for April and the postseason, and Eddy Curry was sidelined due to a heart ailment. In the first round of the playoffs, the Bulls took a 2–0 lead over the Washington Wizards, but would lose the final four games of the series.

The Bulls drafted Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, and Chris Duhon, with Gordon coming from Connecticut and Deng and Duhon coming from Duke. They also signed Argentinian forward Andrés Nocioni, who had played on several successful international teams. These acquisitions reflected John Paxson's strategy of building around players who had already been on successful teams, a departure from what Jerry Krause had done as General Manager, drafting Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler in the same season, players who both showed tremendous potential, but were both coming to the NBA directly from high school.

Jamal Crawford and Jerome Williams were traded to the New York Knicks for Dikembe Mutombo and Cezary Trybanski. However, Mutombo was traded again to the Houston Rockets for Eric Piatkowski and Adrian Griffin without ever playing in a game for the Bulls and Trybanksi was waived by the team in October.

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