After signing a four-year, $100 million fully guaranteed contract in the summer, Josh Giddey seems like — at least for the time being — he is now the guy in Chicago.
Although that may not mean the same thing in Chi-Town as it would at any other NBA team.
Because while Giddey may be earning more than any of his other Bulls teammates, you only have to look around in the Eastern Conference to quickly learn that four years and $100 million wouldn’t make him the guy on any of the top contenders.
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In fact, as The Athletic’s John Hollinger pointed out in a column last month, Giddey’s deal would make him the sixth-highest paid player on the 2026-27 Cleveland Cavaliers or fight-highest paid on this year’s Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, New York Knicks or Minnesota Timberwolves.
This isn’t to say that just Giddey isn’t the biggest factor in determining Chicago’s success this season just because he isn’t being paid as much as a Donovan Mitchell, Bam Adebayo, Scottie Barnes, Jalen Brunson or Anthony Edwards.
It is just that there are certain limitations to his game, the same ones that saw Oklahoma City trade him and Chicago opt against paying Giddey at the upper end of the $30 million a season that he was after, that make building an entire roster around the Australian a complicated process.
It can be done, but it requires the kind of role-catering that a franchise superstar doesn’t usually need.
And in defence of Giddey, he isn’t being paid like a franchise superstar because no one is expecting him to be that already at just 22 years old.
But with Zach LaVine out the door and the chance backcourt partner Coby White could soon follow him, whatever the price tag may be, it won’t be long before there is little doubting this is Giddey’s team for at least the next few seasons.
Josh Giddey is the main man in Chicago. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
The question for both Giddey and the Bulls moving forward is whether the Australian’s breakout stretch to end the season, where he averaged 21.2 points, 10.7 rebounds and 9.3 assists following the All-Star break, was a sign of what is to come or more of a mirage.
Speaking on Yahoo Sports’ ‘The Big Number’ podcast, Dan Devine called the $100 million contract a “worthwhile bet” for the Bulls, especially when considering at 22 years old it is entirely plausible to believe Giddey can further develop his game with time.
“The bet you’re making if you’re the Bulls is that the strides he showed with his jump shot, the strides he showed when they put the ball in his hands and let him run the up-tempo offence after the Zach LaVine trade, that that stuff is real and he can be the engine of an offence that gets above just the muck and the mire,” Devine said.
He went on to reference the fact the Bulls scored just under 118 points per 100 possessions with Giddey on the floor after LaVine was moved, a mark that would have ranked around top five over the course of a full season.
Now, obviously that is a lot of projecting and Devine did note there is some validity to Giddey’s sceptics who question the quality of opposition he played during his incredibly productive stretch as more teams started to tank towards the back-end of the season.
But the idea is that, as thin as the needle is that you are threading in a Giddey-led offence given the question marks over his shooting and defence, it is worth the risk given that $100 million contract will equate to only around 14 per cent of the salary cap.
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“Obviously (there are) big questions on the defensive end,” Devine said.
“Giddey is not an elite defender by any stretch of the imagination… (and there are) a lot of questions on how real his shooting has to be if the league is going to buy it if we remember back to the play-in game, the Heat dismantled the Bulls with Bam Adebayo guarding him.
“So, stick a centre on Josh Giddey and let him shoot is still a game plan that he is going to have to prove he can take advantage.
“But to this point, they made the trade, they didn’t get any picks back. You kind of knew they were pot committed to getting something done with Josh Giddey.”
Plus, it wasn’t as if Giddey improved his shooting percentage while scaling back his attempts. In fact, it was the opposite from looking at his splits.
Giddey shot 45.7 per cent after the All-Star break, averaging 1.9 made 3-pointers from 4.3 attempts, which was up on the 34.5 per cent he shot before the break on 3.9 attempts.
Devine’s co-host Tom Haberstroh went as far as to describe Giddey’s reputation as a non-shooter as “overblown” and while defence is never going to one of his strengths, Giddey said at media day that it was a “big area of improvement” in his game last season after struggling early with Chicago.
Giddey is adding new wrinkles to his game. Michael Reaves/Getty Images/AFPSource: AFP
While Giddey’s improvements on defence and as a shooter after the All-Star break were well-publicised, he also was more aggressive as a scorer in general and was more consistently able to put pressure on the rim, averaging 16 drives per game compared to 8.9 before the break.
It is important Giddey continues to build on that considering he was shooting at what was likely an unsustainable clip to end the season, so finding other ways to score will help negate the natural regression coming his way.
Of course, there are other already known strengths to Giddey’s game. The passing. The basketball IQ. These are floor-raising assets that make Giddey a starting-calibre NBA player, while the shooting piece will ultimately determine how high his ceiling is.
For now, all Giddey has to worry about is being the primary facilitator for a Bulls team that is still finding its way and that is worth acknowledging because as much as the immediate debate may be around his $100 million contract, his level of play this season will determine so much more.
With it looking increasingly unlikely that White will stay put in Chicago given his own contract expectations and Nikola Vucevic off the books next year, the Bulls could be big players either before the trade deadline or in free agency next summer.
If Giddey carries on his form from the post All-Star break and establishes himself as the clear alpha on this team, the Bulls will have to consider how every piece they add fits next to the Australian.
There is pressure on Giddey. Sarah Stier/Getty Images/AFPSource: AFP
It is a dilemma Bulls beat writer Joel Lorenzi foreshadowed in a recent appearance on The Athletic’s ‘NBA Daily’ podcast ahead of the new season, although he said that if he was “being honest” Chicago’s true cornerstone piece “probably doesn’t exist for them right now”.
But right now, in this version of the Bulls that likes to play at a faster pace and is prioritising development over anything else according to GM Arturas Karnisovas, Giddey is the guy.
“A lot of people consider you’re pigeon-holed with him in a way,” Lorenzi said.
“These things might be true but regardless, for where the Bulls are and what they want to do in this window for which he’s signed in, he’s important for what they want to do.
“He enables the kind of play style they’ve pivoted towards. He improves younger guys, which is important — they’re all about internal development and regardless of whether you’re leaning this hard into internal development or not, if you want your young guys to be better and play faster, Josh Giddey is probably the guard you don’t mind them being around.”
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One day, when the Bulls aren’t just always in the mix for a play-in spot and aim higher, serious conversations will need to be had about Giddey and the constraints he as a player has on team-building.
But that day isn’t today.
For now, Bulls fans can just sit back and take comfort in the fact they have locked up an ascending 22-year-old player on a more than acceptable contract.
For Giddey, if he plays well enough in Chicago, it gives him the opportunity to potentially hit free agency at 26 years old just as he is hitting his prime. Cha-ching!
But equally for the Bulls, this is the kind of contract that could age incredibly well and if Giddey does end up reaching his full potential by his prime years, there is finally a direction for this franchise to head in.