Bulls find a middle ground with their young free agent

Giddey and the Bulls agreed on a four-year contract for $100M on Tuesday, a compromise deal that's very straightforward — no options for either side. The deal keeps Giddey, the No. 6 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, in a Bulls uniform through his age-26 season.

The two sides were at an impasse all summer, with Giddey wanting a deal commensurate with fellow lottery picks Franz Wagner (No. 8 pick, $44.8M per year) and Jalen Suggs (No. 5 pick, $30M per season) and the Bulls offering closer to the $18M per season that 2020 lottery pick Patrick Williams signed last summer.

Giddey had his best statistical season

Giddey averaged 14.6 points last season with a career-high 8.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists after coming over from the Oklahoma City Thunder in a trade for guard Alex Caruso. The most significant step forward Giddey took was from three-point range, where he shot 37.8%.

The concerning element of Giddey's game is his finishing at the rim, where he shot just 54.8% within three feet of the basket. On the positive side, he doubled his free-throw attempts from 1.6 to 3.2 per game.

A Bulls compromise was always coming

The difficulty in determining Giddey's deal was that his season was good, but not overwhelming. His three-point shooting improved, his two-point shooting declined and his per-36 minutes statistics were similar, aside from his increased assists.

The Bulls remained mediocre, finishing 39-43 and losing in the play-in tournament for the third straight season. Now they've made a long-term bet on the continued improvement of Giddey and Williams, with six of their players on contracts that expire at the end of the 2025-26 season.

But it's hard to imagine the Bulls would have let Giddey potentially join those free agents by taking the qualifying offer after they dealt Caruso for him, and not a single future selection from the draft-pick-rich Thunder. Instead, they risked an overpay in hopes that Giddey, who won't turn 23 until October, takes a leap.

Neither side wanted to risk Giddey's free agency. The result is a contract that both sides can feel good about, even if they didn't quite get what they wanted.