Nearly two months have gone by, and Chicago Bulls point guard Josh Giddey remains a free agent. The stalemate comes down to Giddey’s price tag and the Bulls’ refusal to meet it. The standoff continues as Giddey aims for $30 million per season, while the Bulls have stuck to a four-year, $80 million offer.
Nonetheless, a resolution appears to be on the horizon. According to NBA insider Jake Fischer, the Bulls and Giddey could make progress on finalizing a new contract following Labor Day weekend. Fischer suggested that players returning to their facilities could provide the push needed for the two sides to finalize a new deal.
Although training camp doesn’t officially start until September 29, players will likely be working out at the Advocate Center daily. While several Bulls have been training in Chicago throughout the offseason, Australian-born Giddey has mostly spent his time back home in Adelaide
Yet, a contract resolution will surely bring the 6-foot-8 floor general stateside. After all, re-signing Giddey to a long-term pact should be, and should have been, the Bulls' primary offseason prerogative.
Giddey didn’t come cheap. To land the 21-year-old playmaker, the Bulls sent All-NBA Defensive Team selection Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The trade was heavily ridiculed at the time as Giddey had just come off the worst stretch of games in his NBA career when the lights shone the brightest in the Western Conference Semifinals.
Trading for then-pending free agent Josh Giddey was never the problem
Still, the Bulls pulled the trigger on the trade, and it paid off. The Aussie outperformed expectations in his first Chicago season, yet the deal hasn’t received the credit it deserves. Among 30 overreactions to the 2025 NBA offseason, Bleacher Report pegged the Bulls as having ‘botched the Giddey trade.’
To begin the Bulls' blurb, Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes wrote, "The Chicago Bulls should have accepted one of several offers for Alex Caruso that reportedly included multiple first-round picks. So on one level, it's not an overreaction to say they made a mistake by targeting Josh Giddey a year ahead of free agency."
Later, Hughes criticized the Bulls for not reaching a deal with Giddey this late in the offseason, despite having traded a valuable player to acquire him. Nevertheless, Hughes lauded the Bulls for not overpaying Giddey after he referred to the Aussie as a "difficult fit on a winning team because of his unreliable defense and limited off-ball value."
It’s a two-way street. The Bulls were justified in holding firm on a key player, but Hughes argues that their real mistake was trading for Giddey in the first place.
However, in actuality, Hughes' articulation should be flipped. The Bulls made the right move to acquire Giddey. He's still only 22 years old with 280 games under his belt. Moreover, his development hasn't stagnated—he displayed real strides both offensively and defensively a season ago.
Landing Giddey is a far safer bet than trying to snag an impactful late first-round prospect or two from the picks that the consistently strong Golden State Warriors would have reportedly sent over in a trade.
Where the Bulls have gone wrong is not coming to a solution regarding Giddey's contract. While Chicago does have all the leverage, considering Giddey is a restricted free agent, there are several compromises worth entertaining to bring back a potential future All-Star.