Grading every Chicago Bulls 2023 free agency signing (so far)

Coby White returns to the Bulls on a three-year deal while the money remains a mystery.

When The Athletic’s Shams Charania first broke the news that Coby White had re-signed with the Bulls for another three years and a total value of $33 million, I was elated. You can imagine my surprise then, when ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported just a few minutes later that Coby was instead coming back to Chicago for a total value of $40 million.

Rather than a reporting error, what this likely means is that White has had a few potential incentives tied into his deal to increase his annual salary. We aren’t quite sure of what those are just yet, but common incentives include things such as games played as well as statistical achievements and accomplishments, such as qualifying for the All-Star Game. When his incentives are released to the public we’ll update you here over at Pippen Ain’t Easy, but this deal is sure to have fans pleased regardless.

Re-signing Coby White had to be a priority for the Bulls this summer.

At an average annual value between $11 million to $13.3 million (depending on how likely his incentives are), this feels cheaper than I expected the market for him to be given his upside, shooting ability, and noticeable improvements as a playmaker and defender.

I’ll be following this story closely to see if Coby’s likely to receive those $7 million in incentives, but either way, I believe this is excellent value for a player who by all means looked like an elite third guard off the bench. If Coby takes that extra stride this offseason, I see no reason why he couldn’t challenge for the starting point guard position next season.

Chicago’s greatest area of need entering free agency this summer was to address their lack of shooting, so losing a player who has shot 37.9% from deep over the last two seasons and has hit the most threes of any Bulls player not named Zach LaVine was always out of the question. Re-signing Coby to a team-friendly deal caps off what was otherwise a very successful day one of free agency for the Bulls.

Grade: A+