With the growth of Bulls reserve forward Leonard Miller’s performance contributions to the Chicago Bulls' 2026-27 NBA preseason game minutes, there is also growing Bulls fan demand to extend Miller to a new contract, due to growing fan perception that his next NBA contract could carry a heavy price tag given his first three 2026-27 Bulls preseason performances.
It’s fine for Bulls fans to have anxiety about how much a Leonard Miller extension will cost the Bulls and the non-zero percent chance that Miller may earn his best second NBA contract payday outside of Chicago.
However, NBA front office executives, specifically Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Bryson Graham, don’t get the luxury of being anxious about navigating a player contract extension negotiation.
Graham has ample data and resources at his disposal to work through contract negotiations with Miller, who, frankly, should have similar resources in his camp via his player representation agency, WME Sports, according to Spotrac.
What both sides of the Miller-Bulls contract negotiation table should factor into a prospective Miller contract extension is Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard agreeing to a new two-year $44.2 million contract with the Celtics, according to Spotrac.
Payton Pritchard as a negotiating benchmark
The accolades on Payton Pritchard’s NBA resume are strong for a late first-round draft selection: 2023-24 NBA champion and 2024-25 NBA Sixth Man of the Year.
Couple those accomplishments with starting a career-high 50 games, while also averaging a career-high 17.0 points per game for the Celtics during the 2025-26 NBA season, and you get a Pritchard contract extension with the Celtics that is estimated to pay him 11.49% of the NBA salary cap when the extension kicks in during the 2028-29 NBA regular season, according to Spotrac.
Leonard Miller to Pritchard-tier NBA performance
Leonard Miller doesn’t need to win an NBA award during the 2026-27 NBA season to make a case for a contract extension that is at least on par with Pritchard’s $44.2 million contract extension (can’t hurt either). Rather, Miller needs to consistently demonstrate that his standing in the Bulls rotation functions on a spectrum from undisputed sixth man to fringe starter when needed.
That’s not just Payton Pritchard, but that’s also two familiar NBA faces to Bulls fans: Minnesota Timberwolves guard Ayo Dosunmu and two-time NBA champion guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Alex Caruso.
Both Dosunmu and Caruso, after being traded away by the Bulls, earned contract extensions with their new teams (Timberwolves and Thunder) that paid them salary in the neighborhood of 12% of the NBA salary cap, according to Spotrac.
For good measure, you can also include Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard in this market sample, as his current three-year $58.7 million contract with the Pacers also has a home on 12% salary cap avenue.
To tie it all together, Spotrac estimates the 2027-28 NBA salary cap at $176 million. Therefore, a prospective 11.5% of the cap as a starting salary for Leonard Miller might look like a $20.2 million salary for Miller for the 2027-28 NBA season.
So when it comes to projecting a reasonable Leonard Miller contract extension price tag to start negotiations with the Bulls, the question for Miller to answer over the course of the 2026-27 NBA season is: can he become as valuable to the team context of the Chicago Bulls as Payton Pritchard is to the Boston Celtics?
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