Context is everything when discussing Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey, who is a good NBA player. Good NBA players often are traded for good organizational reasons that don’t always center on immediate improvement in a team’s win-loss record.
The previous Bulls front office regime, helmed by Arturas Kanisovas, reportedly viewed Josh Giddey as a Lonzo Ball-type player who could restore the Bulls' limited success of the 2021-22 Bulls NBA regular season. Competing for top seeding in the NBA Eastern Conference is no longer a valid purpose for the Bulls going into the 2026-27 NBA season.
Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Bryson Graham intimated as much in his Bulls introductory press conference when differentiating the current Bulls roster from NBA Draft prospects.
The Bulls' purpose for hopefully the next three to five NBA seasons should, in prioritized order, be to acquire superstar talent through the NBA draft, acquire players that either optimize their draft position or outright add to their draft assets, and roster good rotational players that support foundational star players.
Enter Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant, who can provide the Bulls with additional draft capital and, if healthy, can also optimize the Bulls' draft positioning in the emerging NBA lottery reform era by setting a competitive floor as a player who still possesses a subset of his former NBA MVP-candidate level production.
The premise here is the Bulls should trade Josh Giddey for Ja Morant STRAIGHT UP (joke), no trade Josh Giddey for Ja Morant, and first-round draft capital for taking on GOOD BAD MONEY!
Giddey - Morant trade considerations
For pro-Giddey Bulls fans, there certainly is a reasonable Giddey-less trade alternative to acquiring Morant. The Bulls might consider trading 2026 draft slots (Bulls at 4) with the Grizzlies (at 3) and simply taking on Morant’s salary into cap space and receiving first-round draft capital as compensation for using cap space.
However, let’s assume the Grizzlies are comfortable maintaining their current 2026 NBA Draft positioning and selecting the third overall pick in the draft. Trading Giddey for Morant provides the Grizzlies with a more cost-effective point guard option that fits the timelines of their young core of center Zach Edey and guard Cedric Coward.
According to Spotrac, Giddey’s average annual value salary is $25 million over three remaining NBA seasons with no escalations, while Morant has two seasons remaining left on his current Grizzlies contract that will pay him $42.2 million for the 2026-27 and $44.9 million for his expiring 2027-28 NBA season.
For the benefits the Grizzlies would receive in the form of a young point guard and salary cap flexibility, the Bulls should receive, in addition to Morant, the Los Angeles Lakers' top-4 protected 2027 first-round pick and the Orlando Magic’s 2029 top-2 protected first-round pick.
In short order after successfully executing this trade, the Bulls should target to trade Morant in his expiring 2027-28 season, ideally acquiring a second-round pick or two in the trade.
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