Four weeks into the NBA’s 2025 free agent period, the Bulls and restricted free agent guard Josh Giddey are locked into a stalemate in their contract negotiations, but the two sides have remained engaged in discussions throughout the offseason and there’s mutual interest in working out a multiyear agreement, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.
According to Cowley, the two sides are still apart by about $8-10MM per year. That lines up with previous reporting that indicated Giddey’s camp is seeking an average annual value of $30MM while the Bulls prefer a deal in the range of $20MM per year.
For what it’s worth, rival executives polled by Fred Katz and Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic leaned more toward the Bulls’ valuation than Giddey’s. The Athletic’s duo asked 16 sources who work in NBA front offices what they’d consider a “fair” contract for Giddey and 14 of them suggested an average annual value ranging from $20-25MM per year.
However, as Katz and Lorenzi note, 10 of those 16 respondents also said they’d give Giddey four or five guaranteed years, which speaks to a level of optimism about his long-term floor. Only four free agents – Naz Reid, Myles Turner, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Sam Merrill – have received at least four guaranteed years since free agency began.
“If you’re offering a four-year contract, you have to be correct,” one executive told The Athletic. “But Giddey, you could offer a four-year deal.
“Giddey is the anomaly because he might be good enough to be a four-year player. Nobody wants to go with long-term contracts because everybody wants this idea of flexibility. You wanna have the ability to (say), ‘You know what? My team’s not very good. Let’s pivot.'”
According to Katz and Lorenzi, four executives suggested a four-year, $100MM deal for Giddey, while the most bullish respondent said he’d be comfortable with a five-year, $125MM commitment.
Of course, it’s worth noting – as was the case when Katz conducted a similar poll on Jonathan Kuminga‘s value – that rival team executives, who will have their own contract negotiations to deal with and don’t want the market to be set too high, are more likely to take a conservative view when asked to project a player’s contract. In other words, the responses in a poll of 16 agents might look more like what Giddey and his representatives are seeking.
As Cowley writes, there’s no rush for the Bulls and Giddey to bridge the gap in the short term — the 22-year-old’s qualifying offer won’t expire until at least October 1, which is right around the time training camps will be getting underway.
Giddey got off to a slow start in his first season as a Bull after being acquired from Oklahoma City in exchange for Alex Caruso, but finished strong, particularly after the team traded Zach LaVine to Sacramento. Between the start of February and the end of the regular season, Giddey averaged 20.2 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 8.1 assists per game with a shooting line of .491/.451/.801 across 25 outings.
Yesterday’s price is NOT today’s price. Giddey and Kuminga’s reps should take what Jabari Smith Jr. got. They are in his range of talent. 5 yrs/122m is more than reasonable.
The difference is… no one has cap space, and they have no reason to go above the MLE.
If they accept the tender they at least can control where they get traded.
I’m guessing Giddey and Kuminga would take $24.4 mil/yr.
But the teams are lowballing them.
Sure, but not for 3+ years. That just gives the team a reason to trade them after 2.
How can a guy live on $100 to 125M over the next 4 to 5 years?
“Rival Executives” … that alone would make them think his price should be lower LOL.
If I were Giddey I would do a one year deal if they won’t come up to a reasonable $/yr
I’d rather have Cam Thomas or Kuminga rather than Giddey
Not Cam Thomas. He’s third choice. He’s just a gunner and is perfect for a team needing an offensive spark off the bench. Perhaps a team that’s not playoff bound and needs talented scorers?
Giddy then JK then Thomas.
Giddy has flaws, but he’s polished.
JK has flaws and he’s not polished and he’s five years into this “potential” plan. But I’d rather have JK than Thomas.
I agree about Thomas but I just think he is playing the wrong position like Giddey. I’m tired of players playing wherever because they want to. Thomas should be developed into a PG and Giddey a SG who can bring the ball up. Plus Giddey’s imagine isn’t perfect. Ibfo like his game but needs more work. OKC won a title once he left.
Kuminga then Thomas then Giddey.
OKC won the title because they had a cracking team :)
If I had to put them into order, I’d say Giddey, Kuminga, Thomas, Grimes.
But all 4 are good young players with high upside. It’s unusual that 4 reached this point. If you look at RFA history, good players were receiving offers early in the window. And there haven’t been that many sign&trades, actually.
From 2020 until now, there have been 36 RFAs in the league. 2 signed qualifying offers, 2 signed offer sheets (which were matched), 4 were sign&traded, 24 re-signed with their teams. And 4 still remain.
Those who signed with their teams, usually did it for a fair value. For example, Cam Johnson signed 4years/108. That was a fair contract. Brooklyn offering Thomas 2 year 14mil AAV looks like an attempt to squeeze. 20 for Giddey also sounds low, if that’s true.
Thomas developed into a PG / giddey a SG who dribbles ? Makes no sense.
Trying to remember Monta Ellis at the point ….. no.
Giddey – you don’t develop a non shooter into a shooter .. except in fantasy-land.
Point forward maybe .. for gidd
Patrick williams running point, how bout (?!)
Mark you probably love Patrick Williams at PF or the point like you say. Patrick Williams should be a SF. Giddey is too small to play SF. There has been plenty of SG’s who couldn’t shoot throughout NBA history
Where would you play Reggie Theus?
@Mark in LA
Did you miss how well Giddey shot in the 2nd half as was stated in the article? 49/45/80 splits is a shooter.
Giddey is far more effective on ball high usage over off ball like with the Thunder.
He’s wrong and I’m right!
Hey air that’s my line !!
Collin Sexton is making 18mill a year. Cam isn’t as good as Sexton. Sure he might have some big scoring nights but that’s because he’s on a lottery team. Sexton was putting up the same numbers as Cam on way better efficiency when he was on the Cavs and had free reign as well.
I agree Sexton is better than Cam, but he also signed his contract 3 years ago in a S&T. He was also coming off a season that he only played a handful of games because of a meniscus tear. He would’ve gotten more than that if not for the injury imo. Regardless, I don’t know if I’d be willing to go over $20M for Cam with the way the market is now.
Cam is better than Sexton.
2021 Sexton (Age 22): 57 TS% on 30 USG%
2025 Thomas (Age 23): 58 TS% on 33 USG%
Sexton is also pretty good and would be fine on a winning team, he’s just spent the last three years on a team that is actively trying to lose games (and was a big part of why they’ve won more than they’re supposed to).
What’s the difference between Cam and guys like Tyler Herro and Jordan Poole who make 30M+?
We can agree to disagree then. Their TS% have negligible differences and usage is not a metric to compare who is better imo. However, Sexton imo does everything else equal or better than Cam (playmake, 3pt shooting, rebound, etc).
I think Herro is a better 3pt shooter, playmaker, and rebounder than Cam. He and Poole also signed their contract before the new CBA, with teams that were competing to win a ring. In those cases, teams usually dole out a bit extra to keep continuity over trying to replace players. Poole is a good comp for Cam, and Poole has a bad contract imo. Only like 3 FAs this year got over $20M/yr. No one really has cap available to force the teams with RFAs to over spend either. The RFAs are stuck in a hard spot to try and get more money than what is being offered. They can say they’ll take the QO and leave next year with the team getting nothing, but that is a gamble on themselves that they perform or don’t get injured.
My teams not very good let’s pivot? OK. So when exactly do the morons pivot? I’ve been waiting for 4 years for them to Pivot. PIVOT ALREADY! My God.
They already have. You could argue that trading for Giddey, drafting Buzelis, and getting rid of DeRozan, Ball, and Lavine were the pivots. Vucevic will be traded or let expired, and once they sign this contract with Josh, they will be building the team around him and Matas. (and Noa)
I think the article may have been referring to another pivot 2-3 years down the line if he doesn’t keep improving or the team remains stuck in play-in purgatory, at which point a shorter contract becomes easier to trade. I can’t see that happening with Giddey though, but who saw the Ball issue coming?
They better sign him. He fits so well in Chicago, at least do something right unlike keeping Billy Donovan and Patrick Williams.
Is the scandal completely behind him?
Would the Thunders have still made the trade without the scandal? It worked out because Thunders dont win without Caruso.
Yes, they couldn’t afford all 4 to be 30M+ contracts and Giddey was the one who developed in the least complimentary role with the others in the group. They had gotten sufficient all-star level on ball players that Giddey had shifted from high volume point ball handler to a secondary facilitator and shooter who struggled his first year in that role with 3 point accuracy. Obviously in the ball heavy role he is shooting better while OKC needed to get a true 3&D player for the role he was filling. He will never be a great positional defender due to his outsized frame for the position but Lebron did pretty well with those limitations.
Giddey requested a trade because he didn’t want to come off the bench. It had nothing to do with him being catfished.
Ok,sign your RFA offer for 11 mil and spend all year on the bench.Because you’re a guy,can’t be trusted anymore.No matter how good you are,you can’t be trusted.Sit on the bench and see how much you’re worth after a year.You not gonna dive for a ball for 11,20 or 25 mil.You will dive only for 30 mil.Maybe you should speak to different agents,they will paint your reality in true colors,because your agents squeezing a pink sponge
> sign your RFA offer for 11 mil and spend all year on the bench. Because you’re
> a guy, can’t be trusted anymore.
I’d like it if pro sports worked that way, but it doesn’t. In the end, Giddey will get paid big, no matter what he does. Give or take $5M-$10M here or there. Five years from now, he’ll have cleared >$125M.
No NBA, NFL, or NBA team cares if a player held out in the past. Maybe the teams should care. But they don’t.
Let’s say, Giddey takes a QO. Will his situation be any different to, say, Coby White? He’s in the same place, playing on the last year of his contract. Should Coby be benched, too?
2 years 55 million no gimmicks or options.
All these RFAs will eventually have to cave. Might generate a bit of bad blood in the process, but teams have most of the leverage here and they aren’t going to budge. And, frankly, I think that’s the prudent course of action. While guys like Giddey and Kuminga have clear upside, they also carry some risk on a long-term deal. Even in a healthier market, ideally I wouldn’t want to clear $30MM for any of them. Mid 20s is more doable and a potentially better match when it comes to lining up future trades.
Yes, I guess for the future the only thing you can hope for is to be included in that early extension group before the money runs out.
In writing this, I get the feeling that the money will even run out for the first group, the early extenders lol.
Sort of starting to dry up now !!
So the league’s desired result is this…
Two max guys, couple decent dollar guys, and that’s it. Minimum contracts the rest of the way with an exception here and there.
IMO, Kuminga’s and Giddey’s situations are not comparable.
Chicago is a great situation for Giddey. He fits and, most important, have a chance to increase the value of his next contract. I agree, Giddey will cave and sign an extension.
By contrast, GSW is a bad situation for Kuminga. The coach doesn’t want him, he doesn’t trust the coach, and he won’t get the chance to improve his value for the next contract. Moreover, signing the extension empowers GSW to trade him to a team he disfavors. In all, Kuminga believes that signing with GSW is a bad business decision.
Moreover, rejecting extension an extension and signing the $8M qualifying offer places JK in the advantageous position of, effectively, being able to choose his next team. The CBA enables JK to veto a trade to any team he doesn’t like for the next year. If GSW cant find a deal for him over the next year under the QO, Kuminga is an unrestricted free agent next summer.
The only way GSW signs Kuminga is to pay him considerably more than they are offering now.
Perhaps cave wasn’t the right word; I just meant neither will get what they’re aiming for, which is the 30MM+ contract. But you’re right that Plan B looks very different for each of them.
Looks like the new deal favors the owners.
Meanwhile Billy Donovan is getting an extension. What a cheapo franchise. Embarrassing
Give Giddey whatever contract, it won’t matter …. BULLS won’t even make the play-in this season.
East about to have 4 over .500 teams next year smh
3 years time Giddey will be an all star… Kuminga will be lucky to be still in the league.
Would much prefer Grimes over Thomas or Kuminga.
Kuminga will play a long time in this league, he’s been good already. He was injured last year. Give a youngster who has had a brutally bad development a break.
Guskinn, you know Davey, always pointing fingers at someone else instead of looking in the mirror. It’s in the case of himself and it’s in the case of supporting Jonathan Kuminga. It’s someone else’s fault.
Well, sure many times it is. We live in a world of other people, but take a look in the mirror cause that’s the only person you can change. You can’t change Steve Kerr and you can’t change Mike Dunleavy.
But you can become so good through hard work that they can’t ignore you. They’re forced to play you. How about that angle?
I’m with you Guskinn, I think JK just needs to work hard on his game and let the chips fall where they may. That’s all you can control today.
Agreed. Also not a good look that all this distrust of Kerr and unwillingness to play continue to leak out into the media. Leaks always have a source, and always a reason. At some point, as a new team looking to sign JK, you wonder if grumblings will leak the next time he hits a roadblock or a disagreement. It’s just not professional, on his part or the agent’s.
Yes, I just think there’s two sides of the coin. The warriors screwed up and JK didn’t help matters much. So here we are.
This league is so stupid right now that GSW probably would pay Giddey $30M and the Bulls would pay Kuminga $30M, but neither want to put one and one together.
Has anyone asked GSW if they think Giddey is worth $30M? The Bulls have indicated they might be open to signing Kuminga for $30M. Come on.
Davey you fail to understand that the league wants less movement not more movement.
It’s constructed so that guys stay longer and fans build upon hometown favorites like the old days.
That’s one of the complaints of many peripheral fans today. These guys move around so often you can’t keep track.
I thought so too until the Luka trade.
Nico stupidity aside, league should have vetoed that if it wanted hometown heroes. (And I do!)
Yes, you’re right but you have to figure the Los Angeles Lakers are a whole different case when it comes to the NBA and the success, marketing, etc. Just my two cents.
Slow news day so far so it’s beat up Davey day. But it’s OK. He can’t read these because I’m in the muted club now too lol