{"id":152093,"date":"2025-09-18T12:54:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T12:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/152093\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T12:54:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T12:54:07","slug":"bulls-josh-giddey-extension-has-blatantly-obvious-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/152093\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulls’ Josh Giddey extension has blatantly obvious future"},"content":{"rendered":"

There aren\u2019t many things that age gracefully. Wine. Denim. Leather boots. Cast-iron skillets. A few cheeses, maybe. And now, something new to the list: Josh Giddey\u2019s contract extension.<\/p>\n

A little over a week ago, Chicago signed Giddey to a four-year, $100 million deal. It averages $25 million annually, but in all likelihood, he\u2019ll earn closer to $22 million next season, with the contract set to rise in value year over year.<\/p>\n

According to Spotrac, Giddey is projected to earn $22.3 million at 23, $24.1 million at 24, $25.9 million at 25, and $27.7 million at 26 before hitting unrestricted free agency in 2029. That\u2019s undeniably a massive payday, but even then, he\u2019ll take up less than 15 percent of the salary cap\u2014a solid value for a starting point guard.<\/p>\n

Josh Giddey’s contract is as team-friendly as it gets<\/p>\n

The Athletic\u2019s John Hollinger called Giddey\u2019s extension one of the five most underrated moves<\/a> of the offseason. He praised Chicago\u2019s approach to restricted free agency and endorsed locking in the young floor general through his age-26 season.<\/p>\n

Hollinger noted that, in reality, $25 million isn’t an excessive amount. The journalist later pointed out an almost unbelievable tidbit of information, “Giddey\u2019s deal would make him the sixth-highest paid player on the 2026-27 Cleveland Cavaliers or the fifth-highest paid on this year\u2019s Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, New York Knicks or Minnesota Timberwolves.” That goes to show the immense value at which the Bulls retained the 22-year-old.<\/p>\n

To close, Hollinger offered a critique\u2014not of the contract itself, but of Chicago\u2019s future roster-building with Giddey in the mix. As he wrote, “\u2026 the fact that Giddey\u2019s peculiar weaknesses do somewhat constrain team-building options if Chicago aspires to someday finish above ninth place. You need rim protectors who can cover for him and a role in which he\u2019s mainly on the ball.”<\/p>\n

Hollinger\u2019s critique holds weight. At 6-foot-8, Giddey is effortlessly versatile, but as a tall point guard he often lacks a natural defensive matchup. That reality will push Chicago to pair him with a strong perimeter stopper whenever he\u2019s on the floor.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, as Hollinger noted, Giddey\u2019s defense, or lack thereof, underscores the need for a rim protector. He isn\u2019t the hopeless defender<\/a> some make him out to be, but when paired with Coby White, his weaknesses become more pronounced. And a backline featuring Nikola Vucevic doesn’t make things easier.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the Bulls\u2019 roster is far from complete, negating any immediate pressure to solidify the team around Giddey next season. Matas Buzelis and rookie Noa Essengue are promising pieces, but Chicago isn\u2019t anywhere near being a contender. With Giddey under contract for four more seasons, the Bulls will have ample time to assemble a complete roster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There aren\u2019t many things that age gracefully. Wine. Denim. Leather boots. Cast-iron skillets. A few cheeses, maybe. And…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-152093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}