The Chicago Bulls finally ended their standoff with restricted free agent Josh Giddey on Tuesday by signing him to a four-year, $100 million contract, according to ESPN's Shams Charania. They essentially split the difference between the $20 million annual salary that they initially offered and the roughly $30 million per year that Giddey reportedly wanted.
No team had the salary-cap space or an exception large enough to sign Giddey to a similar deal, so the Bulls had most of the leverage in negotiations. However, Giddey could have followed in the footsteps of Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas, who picked up his one-year, $6 million qualifying offer and will now become an unrestricted free agent in 2026.
The Bulls might have felt pot-committed to Giddey, whom they acquired by trading Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder last offseason. Giddey got off to an inconsistent start in Chicago, but he took off once the Bulls traded Zach LaVine to the Sacramento Kings ahead of the February trade deadline. Following LaVine's departure, Giddey averaged 19.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, 8.0 assists, 2.0 three-pointers, 1.4 steals and 0.9 blocks per game while shooting 49.3% overall and 43.8% from deep.
A $25 million annual salary for that type of production might sound like a steal on the surface. After all, he's projected to take up only 14-15% of the Bulls' salary-cap space each year on his new contract. However, making that type of a commitment to a player like Giddey is emblematic of why the Bulls have been trudging in the wilderness of mediocrity for the past decade.
82-game players and 16-game players
In 2018, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green advised his team's front office that there were "82-game players" and "16-game players." In other words, some players can dominate in the regular season but get exposed in the playoffs, while others are tailor-made to thrive when the lights shine brightest.
It's too early to render a final verdict on Giddey, who doesn't even turn 23 until mid-October. He has only 10 games of playoff experience throughout his first four seasons in the NBA. However, the early returns weren't exactly promising in that regard.
During his final season with the Thunder, Giddey was largely fine in a first-round sweep of the overmatched, Zion Williamson-less New Orleans Pelicans. However, the Dallas Mavericks quickly exposed him on both ends of the floor in the Western Conference Semifinals. He wasn't able to keep up with Kyrie Irving or Luka Dončić on defense, and the Mavericks largely ignored him on offense, particularly when he was stationed around the perimeter. Head coach Mark Daigenault moved him to the bench for the final two games of that series, which the Thunder lost in six games.
Some teams might have watched that series unfold and balked at investing heavily in Giddey. The Bulls, meanwhile, decided to trade one of the NBA's best role players—one who immediately proceeded to help the Thunder win a championship—without getting a single draft pick in return. They felt Giddey, who averaged 6.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists while shooting only 43.2% overall and 18.8% from deep in that series against the Mavericks, was enough compensation for Caruso on his own.
The nine-figure question is whether Giddey's hot shooting over the final two months of last season will be sustainable moving forward. He shot only 31.0% from deep across 610 attempts during his three seasons in OKC and 33.1% over 157 three-point attempts this past season prior to LaVine's departure. Did that trade unlock something in Giddey, or did he just briefly catch lightning in a bottle?
Giddey is a jumbo playmaker at 6'8" and 210 pounds and has been among the best passers at his position over the past few years. However, he's graded out as a mediocre defender across that same span. His spotty three-point shooting and defense made him a target on both ends of the floor in the Bulls' blowout loss to the Miami Heat in the play-in tournament this past spring.
As Stephen Noh of The Sporting News noted, the Heat targeted Giddey on defense and used Bam Adebayo as one of their primary defenders on him, which allowed Adebayo to roam and wreak havoc elsewhere. The Heat effectively dared him to beat them from deep, and he shot only 2-of-7 from downtown while finishing as a minus-13 on the night.
It's dangerous reading too much into a one-game sample size, but it was a continuation of the trends that the Mavericks exposed two years ago. Besides, Giddey wouldn't be the first Australian-born jumbo playmaker in recent years whose questionable long-range shooting drastically lowered his ceiling.
Where do the Bulls go from here?
Even after signing Giddey to this deal, the Bulls still have a ton of long-term financial flexibility. Nikola Vučević, Zach Collins, Kevin Huerter, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Jevon Carter are all on expiring contracts. No matter where the salary cap lands in 2026-27 and how they structured Giddey's new deal, the Bulls could enter next offseason with upward of $80 million in cap room.
They won't be the only team with spending power, though. Seven other teams are currently projected to have cap space as well, according to ESPN's Bobby Marks, including the Los Angeles Lakers (assuming LeBron James leaves in free agency or retires). Besides, the free-agent pool is quickly dwindling after the likes of Dončić, De'Aaron Fox, Mikal Bridges and P.J. Washington all signed extensions with their respective teams this offseason.
A handful of intriguing restricted free agents could hit the market if they don't sign extensions by Oct. 20, including Keegan Murray, Bennedict Mathruin, Dyson Daniels, Jalen Duren and Tari Eason. The Bulls could throw bloated offer sheets at some of them, although they'll likely earmark some of their cap room for re-signing White and perhaps Dosunmu as well.
That leads to the larger question: Where are the Bulls going, exactly? What's the path from here to getting back into championship contention? Hope Matas Buzelis and/or Noa Essengue unexpectedly turn into stars? Stumble into a lopsided trade like the Thunder did with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander back in 2019?
Although the Bulls could have a ton of financial flexibility next offseason, hitting that $80 million figure would require them to allow all of their impending free agents to walk. If (when) they re-sign some of them, that will cut into their cap space and limit their ability to pursue external upgrades. In other words, there's no guarantee that they'll significantly upgrade their core next summer.
Perhaps the Bulls don't view Giddey as a long-term building block and signed him to this contract with the intention of flipping him later as the main salary ballast in a blockbuster trade. But for now, given the dearth of star power or young, high-upside talent on their roster, the Bulls appear to be increasingly rudderless.
But hey, at least they might keep getting some play-in tournament gate revenue?