Bulls Get Encouraging Update on Former Lottery Pick as Historic Decision Looms

The Chicago Bulls will be one of the few teams with cap space this offseason, but they plan to use a significant portion to retain Josh Giddey.

A new batch of intel suggests the Bulls and Giddey should find common ground on a new contract for the former No. 6 overall pick (2021). Giddey is headed for restricted free agency, presuming the Bulls extend a qualifying offer to him, wrapping a four-year, $27 million contract.

NBA insider Jake Fischer, aka “The People’s Insider,” reported that many expect Giddey will stay.

Fischer wrote on May 24 that the “working assumption” around the league is that Giddey “will be staying” with the Bulls.  The two sides failed to reach an agreement on an extension in October.

Still, Fischer’s report is not wholly surprising.

Restricted free agency gives the incumbent team the right of first refusal on any offer sheet Giddey might sign with a prospective suitor. The Bulls would have 48 hours to match any offer, and have done so in the past, matching the Sacramento Kings’ offer to Zach LaVine in 2018.

The Bulls also traded beloved utility player Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a straight-up swap without any additional draft capital changing hands.

That is why the Bulls need more from Giddey, especially if they are about to extend him.

Bulls Put on Notice About Josh Giddey Trade

The Ringer’s Zach Lowe set the record straight: the Bulls will need Giddey to prove he can be as effective when teams are more competitive, like the postseason stage, just as Caruso is doing, for the Bulls to justify the trade.

“Caruso is doing this on the highest level of professional basketball,” Lowe told Bill Simmons on “The Bill Simmons Podcast” on May 21. “For the Bulls to end up, in three years, saying, ‘Hey, that trade worked out just as well for us,’ Giddey is gonna have to do some of this stuff on a really high level of basketball.

“It’s cool that you average 28 and 8 in March and April when half the East is tanking. And that’s cool. I’m not saying it’s meaningless. He shot the three well this year, but it’s got to happen with some real stakes at some point.”

Caruso and the Thunder are two wins away from heading to the NBA Finals. It would mark the second appearance for Bulls head coach Billy Donovan’s former organization, and Caruso, who won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020.

Giddey posted career-highs of 8.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists, and 1.2 steals to go with 14.1 points per game on 53.1% eFG and a 37.8% clip from deep with the Bulls in 2024.

He got hot after the All-Star break, with a 21.2/10.7/9.3 line while slashing .500/.457/.809.

Josh Giddey Expected to Land Historically Significant Contract With Bulls

Giddey has long been expected to command $30 million annually on his next contract, which could put him in line for a deal worth up to $150 million over five years, similar to Patrick Williams’ five-year, $90 million pact.

That would give Giddey the second-richest contract in Bulls history, ahead of Derrick Rose and Michael Jordan, trailing only LaVine’s five-year, $215.1 million pact.

The Bulls traded LaVine in Year 3 of that deal after trying through multiple transaction windows.

If he signs and gets to finish the projected deal, Giddey would be the highest earner in the franchise’s history. That further underscores Lowe’s point about the Bulls needing something greater than Giddey’s gaudy late-season numbers to hang their collective hat on.