{"id":158410,"date":"2025-09-09T20:34:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T00:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=158410"},"modified":"2025-09-09T20:34:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T00:34:10","slug":"bulls-josh-giddey-contract-frustrating-gamble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/09\/09\/bulls-josh-giddey-contract-frustrating-gamble\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulls’ Josh Giddey Contract Is A Frustrating Gamble"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, the Chicago Bulls agreed to sign 2021 No. 6 pick Josh Giddey<\/a> to a rich four-year contract, making him their newest franchise cornerstone. Previous reporting revealed that the Bulls wanted to hold firm on a four-year, $80 million offer<\/a>. However, they were unable to keep from blinking in the staredown, upping the amount by $8 million<\/a> shortly after (h\/t ESPN’s Bobby Marks). Less than a week later, they bent even further in the wind, offering Giddey $100 million<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Because Giddey was the principal piece in the trade that saw them send Alex Caruso<\/a> to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the eventual NBA champions, there’s no doubt that the Bulls front office was feeling the pressure to get this deal done. Additionally, he really is a dynamic player and coming off of a career season. Nevertheless, his development has been a roller coaster. Giving a player that kind of money, especially when they were basically bidding against themselves, is a frustrating gamble.<\/p>\n

Bulls’ Josh Giddey Contract Is A Frustrating Gamble<\/h2>\n

At no point in time has Giddey’s ability to create for others been questioned. He’s a preternatural passer whose length, vision and basketball IQ allow him to operate as a primary playmaker with ease. All of that being said, he<\/em> has had trouble being an effective scorer.<\/p>\n

Unwelcome Weaknesses<\/h3>\n

It goes beyond the concerns with his outside jumper, though it’s an oft-discussed issue. He’s largely an under-the-rim athlete, dunking fewer than 10 times in three of his four career seasons despite being 6-foot-9. With that in mind, because of his underwhelming explosiveness, he can have trouble separating off the bounce. As a result of these limitations and his pass-first nature, he has only averaged over 15 points per game in one season and never averaged at least 20 points per game.<\/p>\n

That’s even with him shooting 37.8 percent from 3 in 2024-25, his first season converting at least 34 percent of his 3s. In the end, Giddey can be effective from all three levels, even displaying tough shot-making. In fact, he’s a career 46.4 percent shooter from the field, so it’s not as if he has no touch.<\/p>\n

He just doesn’t provide as much firepower as one would like. Just consider that he has scored 12.5 points per game or fewer in two of his four career seasons. For reference, Ty Jerome<\/a> averaged 12.5 points per game in 2024-25 and was third<\/em> in Sixth Man of the Year voting. Obviously, no team was out there trying to make Jerome their point guard of the future this summer.<\/p>\n

Defensively, Giddey’s relative lack of athleticism also negatively affects him, though it’s due to his lateral agility rather than bounce. That and a lack of consistent focus have caused his defense to be so porous at the point-of-attack that it’s an even bigger problem than his jump shot. He does have redeeming qualities, like his size and defensive rebounding. Yet, he’s definitely not a natural at that end.<\/p>\n

It’s No Better Than…<\/h3>\n

With his new contract, Giddey will be getting paid similarly to players like Boston Celtics guard Anfernee Simons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Feb 10, 2023; Portland, Oregon, USA; Portland Trail Blazers shooting guard Anfernee Simons (1) dribbles the ball while defended by Oklahoma City Thunder shooting guard Josh Giddey (3, left) during the first half at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No, Simons isn’t a household name. Yes, he’s rumored to be on the trade block<\/a>. Yet, he’s averaging 20.7 points (on 37.4 percent shooting from 3) and 4.7 assists per game over the past three seasons. In that same time frame, Giddey has averaged 14.5 points (on 34.8 percent shooting from 3) and 6.0 assists per game.<\/p>\n

For what it’s worth, even Simons’s contract (four years, $100 million) isn’t even seen as an attractive commodity. So, why should Giddey’s be?<\/p>\n

Saving Grace<\/h3>\n

Again, Giddey’s contract sets him up to be their franchise point guard. Fortunately for the Bulls, they actually have the right personnel for he and the team to thrive together. To that point, his skillset says that he should be surrounded by strong defenders and shooters. Preferably these players will be both.<\/p>\n

With that being said, five returning rotation players —Patrick Williams<\/a>, Ayo Dosunmu<\/a>, Kevin Huerter<\/a>, Coby White<\/a> and Matas Buzelis<\/a>— all have made at least 36 percent of their career 3s. Neither Huerter nor White are the most reliable perimeter defenders. The same could be said for Dosunmu’s 3-ball (and Buzelis, if only because of his inexperience). However, this group should be able to generate adequate space, off-ball production and perimeter defense.<\/p>\n

The issue is finding a center<\/em> that can create space for Giddey but also help cover for him defensively.<\/p>\n

Franchise Center Needed<\/h4>\n

Nikola Vucevic<\/a> has had a fine career but he’s a lead-footed stretch-center with a streaky trey-ball and an expiring contract. Zach Collins<\/a>, who is trying to resurrect his career on an expiring contract, is a mixed bag all the way around. Jalen Smith<\/a> is a mobile floor-spacer at least under contract for two years but he’s the least impressive of all of their centers.<\/p>\n

Perhaps a trade for Minnesota Timberwolves big man Naz Reid<\/a> could materialize down the line. If not, the Bulls have the 2026 NBA Draft to look forward to with Houston freshman Chris Cenac Jr. a projected lottery pick. They could even turn to free agency, with veterans like soon-to-be 28-year-old forward-center John Collins<\/a> potentially fitting the bill.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a9 Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, the Chicago Bulls agreed to sign 2021 No. 6 pick Josh Giddey to a rich four-year contract, making him their newest franchise cornerstone. Previous reporting revealed that the Bulls wanted to hold firm on a four-year, $80 million offer. However, they were unable to keep from blinking in the staredown, upping the amount […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":158432,"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":[8,1608,62,556],"tags":[1559,50284,998,4276,1881,98,297,1877],"class_list":["post-158410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bulls","category-basketball","category-nba","category-nba-draft","tag-anfernee-simons","tag-chris-cenac-jr","tag-john-collins","tag-josh-giddey","tag-naz-reid","tag-nba-draft","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-ty-jerome"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158410","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\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158410"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158433,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158410\/revisions\/158433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}