Day 1 NBA Free Agency Recap: No Josh Giddey Deal?

Day 1 NBA Free Agency Recap: No Josh Giddey Deal?

day one of NBA free agency is in the books Well I don’t know if we should call it day one because it’s kind of a half day with free agency opening at 6 p.m Eastern but I’m recording this on Monday night We’ll likely have this go out live Tuesday morning A lot of deals around the league in these first few hours which is to be expected However nothing in terms of a new deal for Josh Giddy And there were implications of what a new deal looks like for Josh based on some of the other transactions throughout the NBA Most notably the trade that sent Michael Porter Jr to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Cam Johnson How does that affect Josh Giddy’s potential new contract with the Bulls and also how does Trey Jones’s deal that he signed impact this team going forward well let’s talk about it So what’s going on everyone you’re listening to Bulls Central here Hope you’re all doing well Now I think some of us are probably surprised to learn that Trey Jones was the Bulls first free agency signing of the offseason Like even though we knew it was an outside possibility and something that became more likely after the Bulls traded Lonzo Ball you would have thought that this would be maybe one of the Bulls last transactions after they figure out the number for Josh Giddy But to my surprise AK said “Nah we’re going to lock that down with Trey Jones on a cheap deal.” Because even though Jones is a backup point guard and he would be a backup on the roster even for a team like the Bulls it does put the Bulls in a situation where they now can say “Well we have a point guard now a point guard who can start By the way he was able to for the Bulls last season when other players were out and injured So Josh while we do value you we now have options Not only just from a player personnel standpoint and having a contingency point guard backup plan but also the options they have when it comes to their leverage knowing other teams simply put do not have the cap space to sign Giddy to the kind of offer sheet that he’s looking for which has been reported to be in that $30 million a year range And the Bulls after signing Jones to that very team-friendly deal their position of strength improved even more so going into contract negotiations with Giddy because not only the team that had enough cap space to sign Giddy to a large long-term extension being the Brooklyn Nets but by the Nets trading Michael Porter Jr they now only have $16 million in cap space for the rest of the summer at least at the time of this recording anyway which effectively takes them out of the Josh Giddy sweep stakes if that was ever a thing to begin with Like even before the trade when the Nets did have ample cap space to sign Giddy Giddy was never linked as a possible free agent target for the Nets But after this move it now firmly takes Giddy out of that equation And so now the Bulls are kind of sitting pretty in the driver’s seat because not only is Giddy a restricted free agent the Bulls can tell him “Hey go out and get some offers and we’ll just match whatever offer he receives.” But now they know those offers aren’t going to be anything astronomical to the point that they would feel uncomfortable matching And so the Bulls can say “All right let’s be real for a second We like you Josh We want to do right by you but we know you’re not going to get $30 million a year And rather than taking the qualifying offer which I believe is between $10 and $11 million take 5 years $125 million Still a massive contract a long-term contract will give you a player option on the final year that gives you some added flexibility to up your pay as a free agent when you’re still in your prime and secure more money Like the Bulls have the cards now It’s just a matter of whether or not they’re going to use it Now you might be asking what does it mean for Giddy to be taking the qualifying offer so Giddy is actually able to take a one-year qualifying offer after his rookie contract that is slightly more than what he was making in the final year of his rookie scale deal That gives him another year to bet on himself in another contract year and become an unrestricted free agent in 2026 So he has the ability to go wherever he wants And it would mean he could potentially earn even more with not only the rise in salary cap but also teams are going to have more cap space in 2026 than they do right now The risk of course is Gide doesn’t have a good season or worse he gets injured and now he gets a lesser contract in 2026 than he otherwise would have in 2025 which again is precisely why the Bulls have to use these negotiations to their advantage Because as much as it might seem tempting on Giddy’s side to take the qualifying offer and secure an even bigger payday next summer the risks are too great when you have a fully guaranteed 5-year contract Like if the Bulls were lowballing him and offering him something in the range of $15 to $18 million a year on a three-year deal first of all that’s bad business on the part of the Bulls to strongarm one of your better players and piss him off to the point that it impacts his play But if the Bulls were playing that kind of hard ball okay I would understand if Giddy was willing to risk betting on himself and taking the qualifying offer But passing on $125 million which to me is the ideal if the Bulls can sign Giddy to that amount that is a lot of money to pass up on because Giddy is a pretty self-aware player He knows he has flaws He knows he’s not going to get a max contract Yes you can be greedy and demand a lot if you’re giddy but you can’t demand too much knowing there are concerns still to your game Now going back to what I said in terms of the Bulls lowballing giddy you I’ve been saying this for a few months now as much as the Bulls might have leverage and they could get away with offering him something closer to $20 million a year still isn’t good for business and is a bad look to the rest of the league Like the last thing you want to do especially when you already don’t have the best reputation around the NBA in general is to have players remember that the Bulls screw over their players just because they can Players aren’t going to want to come play in Chicago if you set that type of precedent And secondly you really want Giddy going into this season feeling like he was slighted with his contract how do you think that’s going to impact his play how do you think that’s going to impact his motivation in wanting to help this team win i mean every employee in any job no matter where you work wants to feel like you’re being paid what you’re worth And when you’re not and you know you’re not and your employer just continues to underpay you and take advantage of you morale and job satisfaction takes a hit Obviously it’s a little different when it comes to employment at the NBA level since we’re talking about salaries in the multiples of millions but the point is still the same People want to be valued They want to be respected and they want to be compensated relative to their skills to truly be motivated at their job So yes the Bulls should come to the table with a position of strength They should absolutely try and get the best deal possible but not to the point that it causes a rift in the relationship of one of their better players in the roster a player they have expressed they want to build around So anyway given the fact that the Bulls haven’t signed Giddy yet in these first few hours of free agency and the fact that they brought Chones on that $8 million a year deal leads me to believe that it actually might be some time before we see any announcement of Giddy’s new contract like even into the middle of July I’m still keeping my eye out for what’s going to be happening around the league regarding Kobe White Odisumu Trade interest is there for both of these players from what I’ve seen reported But if there isn’t a trade of Kobe White or for Io or even for Vuchic you know what that likely means it means the moves this summer for the Bulls are mainly going to consist of resigning Jones and Josh Giddy And that’s about it Because with the addition of a Seni the Bulls already have a full roster with those guys And so despite the fact that the Bulls actually have the mid-level exception at their disposal they can’t use it because they already have 15 guys under contract So if there aren’t any additional trades signin trades what have you you’re probably looking at another pretty underwhelming off seasonason for the Bulls It is just day one of free agency though A lot can still happen and change quickly But let me know what you guys are thinking What were your impressions of the first day of free agency and how it’s been thus far Let me know in the comments As always be sure to subscribe and I will see you in the next one

Recapping day 1 of NBA free agency and how deals impacted the Chicago Bulls

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