Why Nets Are Smart Not to Give Cam Thomas the $100M Josh Giddey Deal

First, it was Cam Thomas and the Brooklyn Nets who broke the restricted free agency silence when the 23-year-old agreed to spend the 2025-26 season on the $6 million qualifying offer.

Now, the Chicago Bulls and Josh Giddey have followed suit—just with a whole lot more money involved. On Tuesday, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that Chicago and Giddey had agreed on a new four-year, $100 million deal, ending his standoff with the franchise, for which the former lottery pick enjoyed the best season of his career.

Giddey is back and under team control for the next four years, allowing the Bulls to put together more pieces around him. But, since the two were talked about in the same conversation for so long, could Brooklyn have made a mistake in not crafting a similar offer to Thomas now that Giddey's deal is done?

Well, to start, the organizational timelines are quite different. The Nets are one year removed from committing to blow things up and rebuild starting from scratch—whereas the Bulls are perennially bound for the play-in, or at least they are in recent memory. Thus, it makes sense why Brooklyn wouldn't want to have so much cap space owed to Thomas, because it wants to maintain future flexibility.

Plus, it seems like Chicago was almost forced to give in to Giddey's demands. The Bulls don't have a real "out" to tear things down the way Brooklyn did with Mikal Bridges last summer. While there wasn't competition for Thomas, Giddey or any other restricted free agent for that matter, Chicago couldn't afford to let their starting guard walk.

Brooklyn coud've.

While it wouldn't have been the smartest move, the Nets were in a far more capable position to let a core piece walk than the Bulls were. Brooklyn has literally zero expectation to compete next season. Depending on whether Matas Buzelis breaks out or not could be a major factor, but Chicago is supposed to be decent in 2025-26.

So no, the Nets won't regret giving Thomas the same deal the Bulls gave Giddey. Sure, the decision could completely backfire, but when the deal was signed, Thomas wasn't believed to be headed for an All-Star selection. If he ends up with that achievement, then maybe there will be some scrutiny tossed toward Brooklyn's front office for not knowing ahead of time.

Still, the Nets will have cap space—something the Bulls may not be able to say next summer.