When the Chicago Bulls signed Coby White to a three-year, $36 million deal back in 2023, few predicted he would turn into perhaps the NBA’s best contract. Yet, that is exactly what he has done, performing at a near-All-Star level for the better part of the last two seasons.
And now the Bulls could be forced to trade him because of it.
The 25-year-old is scheduled for unrestricted free agency next summer. Chicago’s most effective path of retaining him would typically involve making sure he never reaches the open market. But it can’t. The NBA’s extension rules won’t allow it.
This NBA rule is crippling for Chicago...
White is eligible to sign an extension this summer, but the collective bargaining agreement only allows the Bulls to give him a 140 percent raise off his 2025-26 salary, which comes in at just under $12.9 million. This means Chicago can offer him close to $18.5 million in the first season of an extension, and can max out at a four-year, $80.8 million deal overall.
That isn’t getting it done—not for someone just entering his prime who is averaging almost 20 points and five assists while downing more then 37 percent of his triples over the past two seasons.
Hitting 2026 free agency makes far more sense for White. His max salary next summer will clock in at over $51 million—nearly three times what the Bulls can offer him this season. A four-year max contract, meanwhile, would pay him almost $229 million, which is again almost triple the $80 million Chicago can give him.
To be sure, White probably isn’t getting his free-agent max. He’d have to make an All-NBA team to enter that discussion. Still, there is a wide gap between a starting salary of $18 million and $51 million. White stands to make much more by refusing an extension Chicago will almost assuredly offer him.
The Bulls can't afford to wait on free agency
Now, the Bulls can simply wait until 2026 free agency to pay their star guard. Except that opens up a potential can of worms.
As an unrestricted free agent, White can sign with whomever he wants. That increases the competition for his services—especially when more teams project to have cap space in 2026 than right now.
Chicago isn’t going to separate itself from the field if winning is among White’s immediate goals. It can dangle a fifth year that no other team is allowed to offer—a five-year max would run $296 million, for what it’s worth—but that increases the chances his new contract ages poorly. This becomes infinitely more likely if the Bulls are offering him substantially more per year relative to the outside market just to sell him on staying.
While White is good, he isn’t that good. Chicago also needs to reconcile how much it will cost to pay both him and Josh Giddey, who’s about to be a restricted free agent. These two could cost north of $70 million combined by 2026-27. The Bulls better be darn sure that’s their backcourt of the future if they’re investing so much into a pair of players who may never make an All-Star game.
White's contract situation will force the Bulls' hands
This all sets the stage for Chicago to aggressively shop White over the offseason, something they arguably should have done last summer, and then again at the 2025 trade deadline.
Sure, the Bulls may not get a king’s ransom when he has just one year left on his contract. But they are bound to get something. White will net more than a singular first-round pick. Chicago should be able to get at least two, or one plus a prospect. The return potential goes up if the front office is open to taking back unwanted money as it reorients the team’s direction.
Whatever the Bulls get in a prospective Coby White trade, it comfortably outstrips the worst-case, totally plausible scenario : losing him for nothing in 2026 free agency.
Dan Favale is a Senior NBA Contributor for FanSided and National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.