A new NBA season is upon us, which means that the Chicago Bulls are back to put on an incredibly mediocre and disappointing display of basketball. They kicked off their season by losing 124-104 to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Bulls trailed for much of the second half and got outscored by 11 in the fourth quarter. Zach Lavine's 4-16 shooting from the field with four turnovers and Coby White's 4-14 shooting helped stymie the Chicago offense. After the loss, players were already in heated conversations and asked head coach Billy Donovan not to be a part of it. Not exactly how you'd want to start a season.

LaVine said after the game that the way the Bulls played was not acceptable.

“We didn’t respond once they did that run in the second half. Wasn’t a great showing from us,” the Bulls' star guard said. “Didn’t shoot the ball well and I don't feel like we played with enough heart. And that's on us. It's a terrible way to come out to start the season but, you know, it gives us an opportunity to bounce back the next game.”

The Bulls narrowly missed the playoffs last year and could fall further out of contention this year after making minimal moves this past summer. They simply need to play with their best effort and cohesion in order to make something happen.

“It’s unacceptable. I don’t think it’s a thing people do on purpose, either,” LaVine said of the Bulls lacking energy. “But we gotta come together during those runs and make sure we make a game out of it. It was a four-point game at a certain [point]. I think in the third quarter, we came out really strong. But we can’t let that happen. ”

The main highlight for the Bulls was Andre Drummond roughing up Chet Holmgren in his NBA debut. New addition Torrey Craig shot 3-4 from beyond the arc. Otherwise, there wasn’t much to write home about for the Chicago faithful. DeMar DeRozan posted just 20 points on 9-20 shooting

For the Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went off for 31 points and 10 assists while Josh Giddey and Jalen Williams each had 16 points.

The Bulls' next chance to redeem themselves is Friday against the Toronto Raptors.