The Chicago Bulls affirmed their long-term commitment to Josh Giddey after acquiring him last summer from the Oklahoma City Thunder.<\/p>\n
The two sides agreed to a four-year deal worth $100 million on Tuesday, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania<\/a>.<\/p>\n The final number is lower than Giddey was aiming to get before free agency opened. HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto<\/a> reported in May his asking price was believed to be around $150 million over five years.<\/p>\n Giddey’s market dried up pretty quickly thanks to his restricted free agency and a collective bargaining agreement that’s causing a lot of teams to pull back on their spending.<\/p>\n There weren’t many teams with salary cap space before the offseason kicked off. Those that did were probably wary of making a run at Giddey when they knew Chicago could match any offer sheet he signed.<\/p>\n To a certain degree, this also reflects the general uncertainty over his on-court value.<\/p>\n In his first season with the Bulls, Giddey averaged 14.6 points on 46.5 percent shooting along with 8.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists. His 37.8 percent clip on three-pointers was a career high.<\/p>\n The Bulls, meanwhile, continued to tread water by trading Zach LaVine to the Sacramento Kings, but refrained from tearing down the entire roster. As a result, they wound up 10th in the Eastern Conference at 39-43.<\/p>\n When it came to Giddey, he performed reasonably well yet failed to change the general perception of his game.<\/p>\n There was a time when the Australian playmaker looked like a centerpiece of Oklahoma City’s future. Four-time MVP LeBron James singled him out<\/a> during two separate<\/a> All-Star Weekends, such was the respect he was quickly building.<\/p>\n However, the conversations around Giddey shifted with the Thunder transitioning from a plucky underdog with promise to a franchise with championship aspirations.<\/p>\n General manager Sam Presti was candid when addressing the decision to trade Giddey for Alex Caruso. He said in OKC’s announcement<\/a> the team concluded Giddey would best be utilized off the bench.<\/p>\n “As we laid out to Josh how he could lean into his strengths and ultimately optimize our current roster and talent, it was hard to for him to envision, and conversations turned to him inquiring about potential opportunities elsewhere,” Presti said.<\/p>\n “As always was the case, Josh demonstrated the utmost professionalism throughout the discussions. Josh has All-Star potential, but accessing that in the current construct of the Thunder would not be optimal for the collective. Based on these discussions we decided to move forward and prioritize what was best for the organization.”<\/p>\n The Bulls, on the other hand, had a pressing need for a playmaker and could thus guarantee Giddey the kind of role he’d want. <\/p>\n While the trade made sense on those grounds, Bulls fans weren’t exactly thrilled with the swap. Beyond failing to get any draft compensation for Caruso, Chicago prioritized a player with some glaring flaws who was just one year out from free agency.<\/p>\n In 80 appearances in 2023-24, Giddey averaged 12.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists. While that’s solid production, his game didn’t improve all that much. His production per 36 minutes<\/a> actually went down, and his three-point shooting only saw a negligible bump (32.5 percent in 2022-23 to 33.7 percent).<\/p>\n More concerning, it became harder for Oklahoma City head coach Mike Daigneault to lean on Giddey in the playoffs. Opponents picked on him as a defender and routinely sagged off him as a shooter, and that’s a toxic combo for a player in a postseason series.<\/p>\n Only once against the Dallas Mavericks in the second round did he score in double figures. In OKC’s final two games, he was dropped from the starting lineup and logged a total of 22 minutes on the floor.<\/p>\n