The Fastbreak: Donovan extended, the latest on Giddey, Ayo & Vucevic rumors

The Fastbreak: Donovan extended, the latest on Giddey, Ayo & Vucevic rumors

Hello everybody. Thanks for tuning in to this week’s episode of the Fast Break. I am Casey Johnson. It’s late July, but we always have some bull’s thoughts. And here are what’s on my mind for this episode. Let’s start with the formality of Billy Donovan signing his multi-year extension. This news uh occurred over the weekend. Again, I want to emphasize this was a formality. And let’s place this into a little bit of context. First of all, it’s instructive to remember that these talks and this idea started shortly after the season ended. It had nothing to do with the New York Knicks requesting and getting denied permission to speak with Billy Donovan. And you may ask, well, why did it take so long for the contract to be signed? I was told the negotiations were smooth throughout, but obviously logistical things came into play. Billy was home in Florida for a while. Um, also, uh, obviously the draft took priority, planning for that. Billy was in on a lot of those free draft workouts and giving his thoughts on personnel with the scouting department, etc. Um, then obviously, uh, free agency planning and free agency meetings took place and then NBA summer league where Billy not only was in Las Vegas, but his son Billy Donovan the third was coaching the summer league team. So, you know, the NBA offseason can be busy. It’s now done. Billy Donovan will be the head coach of the Chicago Bulls moving forward as we have been reporting for months. And you know, one thing to is also instruct to remember that’s been reported many, many times is how strong Billy Donovan’s relationship is, not only with management, but with ownership. As far as management though, I mean, it’s been pretty well documented that Billy Donovan appreciates his input on personnel. Um that’s something he has cited many times about how he feels like it’s a partnership with our tourist carnitish and Mark Eversley. Um I I would actually expect that influence or at least that voice to grow on this new iteration of Billy Donovan’s contract. Um one thing I would point to would be Trey Jones resigning. It’s not like management didn’t like Trey Jones because they did. Uh but Billy Donovan was a huge Trey Jones fan. And you may say it’s a crowded guard room, which it always seems to be for the Chicago Bulls, but Billy Donovan got Trey Jones back. Um, and I guarantee you he’s going to play him a lot because he likes low turnover true point guard players, which Trey Jones is. So that’s one thing to keep in mind with this Billy Donovan extension. And you know, I’ve actually seen a little bit of like surprise and frustration, which I get on some level over the fan base over this extension because, you know, there is a sense that both management and now the coaching staff are being rewarded with extensions for a team that’s been kind of stuck in the middle. But I would put Billy Donovan pretty far down the list of issues with the Chicago Bulls. And it’s not just my opinion. And you can look to Springfield, Massachusetts in September for when Billy Donovan is going into the Naymith Basketball Hall of Fame uh for his pedigree. And again, I know that’s also largely based on his collegiate record, but he was a very good coach with the Oklahoma City Thunder. And let’s just look at his Bulls tenure. I mean, obviously, you know, it’s only one playoff appearance and one playoff win. Um, but I look largely at this as being a roster uh situation than a coaching situation. And again, that roster situation was looking pretty good before Lonzo Ball’s knee injury. Um, but let’s look at his coaching chops. Just dial in on those. I mean, to me, his ability to be remarkably consistent with his communication skills. Players talk about how upbeat he is and how similar he is on a daily basis. And his ability to talk to players directly, hold them accountable in film sessions. Always stands out to me about Billy Donovan. And then stylistically, I mean, the ability to transform from that, you know, first defensivebased uh roster that was centered on Alex Caruso and Lonzo Ball where defense turned into offense and they did play fast that first half of 21-22 before Lonzo Ball’s knee injury. And then to slow it down and center it around, you know, one of the better isolation mid-range players in this game’s history in Demar De Rozan and, you know, go through that transformation. and now last season to completely change the offensive philosophy and to get that buy in from players. Um, you know, to me speaks to his coaching acumen and his coaching ability and his ability to get the most out of whatever roster uh you you he has given. He’s a guy that, you know, if you look back to his Oklahoma City Thunder tenure, also um you know, tra changed his play style throughout his five years with Oklahoma City Thunder. One thing that’s been pretty consistent, particularly in his time with the Thunder, is his defensive focus. That’s obviously slipped the last couple seasons with the Bulls going younger and playing faster. But as recently as the 2223 season, the Bulls were top five defense in the NBA. That to me actually is probably his greatest accomplishment as a Chicago Bulls head coach because if you look at that 22 23 roster, it’s not loaded with stellar individual defensive players, but yet he got team buyin to be fifth defensively in the NBA that year. So, Billy’s here. He’s here to stay and uh there is continuity both with management and now the coaching staff as well. All right, one person you expect to be staying, but the never- ending saga continues with Josh Giddy and his restricted free agency. I have no news updates as of this taping, which is Tuesday, July whatever, late July. I don’t have the date. You think I know the date in the offseason? Um, but what I will tell you is some new context to place this under. Um, Larry Markin was a restricted free agent in 2021. Now, that season was a little bit different because of the co situation. So, the NBA regular season and the Bulls did not wrap up until miday, which is a month later than this past Bulls season ended in midappril. But yet, Lowry Markin’s signing trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers in that three-team deal involving the Portland Trailblazers did not take place until late August. So, the Bulls have shown patience in restricted free agency before. And as has been mentioned and reported ad nauseium, they hold all the power in this restricted free agency situation with Josh Giddy, just like the Warriors do with Jonathan Kaminga, just like the 76ers do with Quinton Grimes, just like the Nets do with Cam Thomas. It’s a very stagnant, restricted free agency market this summer. There’s no cap space out there. Now, the fine line that I always say the Bulls need to walk is Josh Giddy is viewed as a cornerstone piece for this next roster iteration. So, you don’t want to fully alienate this player, but you also also want to make a team friendly deal when you have the power that you do. And that is the gulf that which both sides are at now. Now, there’s been a lot of tea leaf reading. I on this very feature mentioned that the talks have been amicable and they have been to the most part. But is there some frustration creeping in? Absolutely. Josh Gideon and his represented representation want to get a deal done. There’s been some reports of the situation becoming strained. That’s just the byproduct of stalled negotiations. Obviously, their camp is like he played like an all-star the second half of the season. And that’s again the fine line you need to walk cuz you want Josh Giddy coming into training camp next uh season in a good frame of mind. And it’s also instructive to remember that he was the highest member of his draft class not to reach terms on a rookie scale contract extension last summer. So that’s also on their mind as well as far as his camp. I in fact I was told that there were very few negotiations at all in those talks that um the Bulls basically were like in a prove it situation this year and by and large Josh Giddy proved himself particularly with the way he played in the second half of the season and that post Zack Lavine trade and I want to emphasize management has been consistent both publicly and privately with their desire to bring back Josh Giddy out a long-term deal so eventually I do think this still will get done. But obviously you do not want bad blood or bad feelings lingering into this, particularly coming into training camp. Um, at one point they were about $10 million apart. Uh, 30 million to 20 million roughly ballpark. I do think the Bulls might have some wiggle room in terms of going up, but you’re not going to see them get anywhere near that 30 million figure as I’ve also reported before. One last thing on the Josh Giddy situation. Uh the great Bobby Marx from ESPN keeps putting restricted free agency in some fantastic context. You should check out his tweet on this. He said, “Out of the 14 former first round picks that received a qualifying offer since 2023 and then signed a contract, only Tyrese Maxi, Emanuel Quickley, and Cam Johnson had a starting salary greater than $20 million in the first season.” The the takeaway from this is that Josh Giddy, if he’s entertaining playing on the qualifying offer of $1.1 million, may want to think about that because I ultimately think what will happen, this is again, I’m not reporting this. This is my guess, educated guess as to what I think will happen. I think Josh Giddy and the Bulls eventually will find common ground on a shorter term deal, whether that’s three years, four years at a number that Josh isn’t thrilled with, but puts him back in free agency when he’s either 25 or 26 years old. So stay tuned on that. We’ll have multiple uh podcasts and talking about that when that deal ultimately happens. All right, let’s move on to IO Dumu. Um he’s in the news this week because uh he’s having his fourth annual block party at Union Park right down the street here from the United Center uh in conjunction with Chicago Bulls charities. Um this event has been held to honor his late friend Darius Brown. And look, I always been about giving back to the community that helped raise him. In fact, in 2023, he was honored with a very prestigious award by the NBA, the Bob Laneir Community Assist Award winner for the 2023 offseason. Um, but why am I talking about a community of service event? Well, let’s place it into context, not only for Iodumu’s commitment to his hometown of Chicago and how he’s always given back to this community, but also um there might be some basketball reasons here. I mean, I had reported on this very segment earlier this off season that I had heard far more chatter about IO Dumu uh in terms of trade market than I had about Kobe White. I can tell you now that uh that chatter has largely died uh for the most part as far as late July is concerned and I do expect Iodumu to be back in a Bulls uniform for the next season. The Bulls did have substantive talks, I’m told, with a Western Conference playoff team uh earlier this off season, well earlier uh regarding Duma, but the two teams could not find common ground on a trade package. Um and all signs for now point to Iodumu returning. Um he’s uh told me uh when we were out in Vegas for summer league, he was sitting courtside that he’s ahead of schedule in his rehab from shoulder surgery. get pointed to August for ramping up for that five on-5 contact. He was also over just now in Spain um as part of a National Basketball Players Association gathering. He was working out with fellow NBA players and having a nice trip overseas. So um look for Sumu to not only be back, but he’s always in the rotation. He you know regardless of how many guards the Bulls have in the roster, he always finds a way into the rotation whether he’s a starter or reserve. He does project to be to be a reserve. Um the guard glut is real. It always is. So this is going to be a fluid situation. If Josh Giddy, as I expect, eventually finds uh common ground on a deal and is back. Um you got Josh Giddy, you got Kobe White, you got Trey Jones, as I mentioned before, back on that three-year deal. Um I Kevin Herder, although he can slide to wing, Dalon Terry also can slide to wing. Javon Carter picked up his player option. So, it’s going to be a crowded crowded guard room. Um, and I think it’ll be a fluid situation during the season in terms of, you know, potentially more having trade talks, but as of now, I’m hearing that most of that chatter surrounding Iodasumu has quieted and I expect him to be back in a bull’s uniform. Uh, another guy I expect to be back in a bull’s uniform, and we’ll close here. Only spend a little bit of time on this is Nola Vuvich. He was in the news a little bit this week for some really bad aggregation. It was speculated that the Bulls could potentially be buying him out. Um, and then that got aggregated that they’re going to be buying him out in im imminently and that is not happening. I can tell you unequivocally that is not happening. Not only is Iumu, I’m sorry, Nicolola Vuchich coming off his best season as a bull, but look, the Bulls would love to eventually turn his contract into some assets back and I do think he will have trade value as we get closer to the February 2026 trade deadline. And it was well documented the Bulls shopped him at the February 2025 trade deadline. They could not uh find common ground with any team. They had most substantive talks uh with the Warriors surrounding Nolvuvich. I’ve been told that that interest has cooled for the most part as of at least this taping. So stay tuned on Vu, but he will be back with the Bulls in training camp. I do think, you know, maybe if you’re not able to find the trade package between now and February, perhaps the Bulls entertain some buy out buyout talks then. Um, that’s very speculative and I will also say this franchise historically has frowned upon buyouts. They do not typically take that route. So stay tuned. But VU is coming off a very strong season. Projects to be the starting center and potentially we’ll have some trade value as we move through the season and getting closer to the February 2026 trade deadline. So that’ll do it for this week’s episode of the fast break. We certainly appreciate you checking us out and as always, we’ll be back whenever there’s breaking news and with more content later this off seasonason. Thanks a lot.

K.C. Johnson returns back to the desk to catch you up on everything surrounding the Chicago Bulls in the middle of the offseason. From details on Billy Donovan’s multi-year extension, to the latest news on Josh Giddey, Ayo Dosunmu & Nikola Vucevic’s future with the Bulls, K.C. keeps you as the most informed Bulls fan.

0:15 – 5:30: Details on Billy Donovan’s multi-year extension
5:31 – 10:03: Breaking down Giddey’s RFA
10:04 – 13:00: Ayo Dosunmu’s Bulls future
13:01 – 14:29: Nikola Vucevic Bulls rumors

#chicagobulls #nba #joshgiddey

✅: 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 – https://www.youtube.com/@CHSN_Media

📱: 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗽𝗽
▪️ https://2ly.link/243X4

🖥️ : 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝘀𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 – bit.ly/3D4PDaR

📱: 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀
▪️ Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/CHSN
▪️ Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CHSN
▪️ Follow on X: https://twitter.com/CHSN__
▪️ Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chsn