Compromise — a lost art in these times — has secured Josh Giddey’s spot with the Chicago Bulls for the next four years.
Chicago and Giddey have agreed to a four-year, $100 million contract, his agent Daniel Moldovan of Lighthouse Sports Management told Shams Charania of ESPN, who broke the story. The Bulls soon confirmed it.
Giddey showed what he can mean to this franchise with the numbers he put up last season after the All-Star break: 21.2 points, 10.7 rebounds and 9.3 assists a game for a Bulls team that went 17-10 in that stretch. Last season in Chicago, he had 30 double-doubles and seven triple-doubles.
Negotiations dragged out all summer because Giddey — based on his play the final stretch of last season — wanted to be paid in the Tyler Herro, Derrick White range of $30 million a year. That was not happening, and the last offer reported to be on the table was four years, $88 million ($22 million a season).
However, Chicago hurt its leverage because a year ago when it gave the unproven Patrick Williams a five-year, $90 million contract purely based on his potential. Giddey, despite his flaws (notably his lack of defense), is a proven commodity who can score and run an offense. What is that worth?
Chicago and Giddey met somewhere in the middle with a nine-figure contract that works for both sides. Giddey gets paid, but at that price Chicago can trade him if they decide to pivot.
If Giddey plays this coming season like he ended the last one, he could make his first All-Star team next February.
Giddey, the 22-year-old Australian, is expected to start at the point with Coby White at the two (and serving as a secondary shot creator). Combine them with second-year and improving player Matas Buzelis, just-drafted Noa Essengue from France, and the potential of Williams, and the Bulls may be starting to build something. It’s been tough to see the big-picture vision in Chicago for a while — and that fog still hangs in the air — but locking up Giddey gives them a potential direction. This is a good deal for both sides.
Giddey inking his contract leaves two unrestricted free agents hanging out there, Jonathan Kuminga with the Warriors and Quentin Grimes of the Philadelphia 76ers. Both of those scenarios feel more like they could end in the player accepting the qualifying offer — as Cam Thomas did with the Nets — rather than the sides compromising on a deal.
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