Josh Giddey’s fully guaranteed, four-year, $100 million contract may seem like a compromise that benefits both Giddey and the Chicago Bulls. But that’s not quite right.
Giddey had no leverage. The Brooklyn Nets were the only team with significant cap space this past offseason, and they didn’t even come sniffing around. In fact, their own restricted free agent, Cam Thomas, had to settle for the qualifying offer.
The total dearth of suitors should have put Giddey at the Bulls’ mercy. It’s a borderline miracle that he came out of the offseason with a nine-figure deal.
Sure, he could have also accepted the qualifying offer of $11.4 million, which would have allowed him to hit unrestricted free agency next summer. But the lack of interest in him this year, coupled with broad skepticism about his ability to contribute on a winning team, would have made that a risky gambit.
Credit Giddey and his reps for squeezing everything they could out of a one-team bidding war.