{"id":148973,"date":"2025-07-06T01:49:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T05:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=148973"},"modified":"2025-07-06T01:49:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T05:49:47","slug":"josh-giddey-and-bulls-playing-poker-in-contract-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/07\/06\/josh-giddey-and-bulls-playing-poker-in-contract-negotiations\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Giddey And Bulls Playing \u2018Poker\u2019 In Contract Negotiations"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO<\/strong> \u2013 Negotiating a new deal can feel like a poker table showdown. Both sides bluff, wait, and watch for the other to flinch. Josh Giddey<\/a> contract negotiations with the Bulls front office fit this perfectly, with both camps playing their cards close to the chest. Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times captured<\/a> it best when he posted on X: \u201cBulls and Josh Giddey are having good dialogue, per a source, but the Giddey camp is dug in on the Suggs contract \u2014 $30 million per. Let the posturing continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh Giddey And Bulls Playing \u2018Poker\u2019 In Contract Negotiations<\/h2>\n

Giddey Stands Firm on Price Tag<\/h3>\n
\"Jalen
Jan 7, 2024; Orlando, Florida, USA; Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs (4) and Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (1) go after the rebound during the second half at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Giddey wants his payday to match peers like Jalen Suggs<\/a> and Jalen Johnson<\/a>. Last season, Suggs locked in a frontloaded deal with Orlando<\/a>. Johnson secured $30 million per year flat with Atlanta<\/a>. Naturally, Josh Giddey wants his Bulls contract figure to land in that same territory.<\/p>\n

Giddey\u2019s numbers back up the ask. The 6-foot-8 guard-forward turned in a strong campaign with Chicago, putting up 14.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 7.2 assists a night. He added 1.2 steals per game and raised his three-point shooting to 37.8% on respectable volume. Those stats show growth and justify why his camp won\u2019t budge off the $30 million mark.<\/p>\n

Chicago Holds the Stronger Hand<\/h3>\n

Yet the Bulls know they hold the better hand in this poker game. Chicago\u2019s front office, led by Art\u016bras Karni\u0161ovas, wants to avoid repeating past missteps like the Patrick Williams<\/a> contract. This time, they won\u2019t overpay.<\/p>\n

The current market works in the Bulls\u2019 favor. As a restricted free agent, Giddey\u2019s leverage is thin. Brooklyn<\/a> was the only team with cap space, but the Nets used that room absorbing deals like the Michael Porter Jr<\/a>. trade<\/a>. No other teams can swoop in with big offers.<\/p>\n

Giddey could bet on himself by taking the mid-level exception somewhere else. But that\u2019s unlikely. Playing on a smaller deal leaves him one injury away from losing millions. As Achilles injuries rise league-wide<\/a>, few young players are willing to take that gamble. For now, Josh Giddey\u2019s contract dance gives the Bulls the edge.<\/p>\n

A Likely Outcome<\/h3>\n

Expect this standoff to settle somewhere in the high 20s per year. Giddey\u2019s camp wants Suggs money. Chicago aims for a slight discount, given their upper hand. Unless another team magically clears cap space, the Bulls can squeeze Giddey\u2019s number without insulting him.<\/p>\n

Joe Cowley\u2019s summary rings true: \u201cLet the posturing continue.\u201d Both sides know this is a negotiation about pride as much as dollars. But at the end of the day, this contract battle with the Bulls front office will end with Josh Giddey back in Chicago, well paid \u2014 just not at Suggs\u2019 exact level.<\/p>\n

In the NBA\u2019s high-stakes world, the cards rarely lie.<\/p>\n

CHICAGO \u2013 Negotiating a new deal can feel like a poker table showdown. Both sides bluff, wait, and watch for the other to flinch. Josh Giddey contract negotiations with the Bulls front office fit this perfectly, with both camps playing their cards close to the chest. Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times captured it best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":148975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,3],"tags":[50219,1466,4276,4975,4557],"class_list":["post-148973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-news","tag-2025-nba-free-agents","tag-cap-space","tag-josh-giddey","tag-nba-contracts","tag-nba-offseason"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148973"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148977,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148973\/revisions\/148977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}