It would certainly be the most radical option, but Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey could pull a page out of the NFL playbook and hold out if he doesn't get the new contract he believes he deserves.
That wild, if hopefully unlikely, scenario was raised by Sam Vecenie of The Athletic in a recent episode of the Game Theory Podcast.
After more than two months of negotiations, Giddey and the Bulls remain far apart on a new deal. The 22-year-old is a restricted free agent, meaning he's free to sign an offer sheet with any franchise, but Chicago would have the opportunity to match it and keep him in the Windy City if it so chooses.
The league is still waiting on a resolution to the situation, but if Giddey is stubborn enough -- the Bulls sure seem to be -- Vecenie's option is always on the table.
Josh Giddey could hold out if he doesn't get what he wants from the Bulls
Even dating back to last offseason, after Chicago acquired him from the Oklahoma City Thunder, Giddey has reportedly been after a long-term contract worth $30 million annually. The Bulls are offering $20 million per year.
Despite fairly obvious compromises sitting on the table, at least from the outside, team and player are refusing to budge from their valuations. That led to Vecenie raising the following idea:
"If I'm Giddey, I definitely want real security here. I want at least three years of $25 million or something. But if I'm Chicago, I'm looking at the marketplace and I'm like, 'Who can offer him $30 million right now?' Nobody's there to do it.
"If I'm Giddey, I'm probably willing to just miss games. It's not like you're going to get fined or anything, you're not under contract. So I'm probably willing to sit here in restricted free agency, even into the season if I have to."
The league insider makes a compelling argument for both sides. Outside of the Brooklyn Nets, no team has enough cap space to hand Giddey $20-30 million a season, and the Nets have no impetus to. On the flip side, the Bulls need their franchise floor general if they hope to break their play-in curse.
Both sides need each other, which makes it seem inevitable that a deal will get done at some point. At some point doesn't have to mean the offseason, though.