Ahead of training camp, Bleacher Report summed up every NBA team’s offseason with a single word. For the Atlanta Hawks, it chose “disbelief,” highlighting their draft-day trade and the additions of Kristaps Porzingis and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
For the team on the other end of Atlanta’s draft-day heist, the New Orleans Pelicans, Bleacher Report chose “laughingstock”—easily the harshest label of all 30 teams. But the Chicago Bulls didn’t escape criticism either, earning the word “caved.”
Grant Hughes, who penned the article, wrote, “Josh Giddey’s four-year, $100 million contract isn’t the “everybody’s happy” compromise it appears to be. The Bulls had all the power in negotiations with their restricted free agent, status granted them by the total lack of outside suitors and the league-wide dearth of cap space that made an offer sheet from another team almost impossible… Chicago could have pushed him harder, daring him to take his $11.4 million qualifying offer. Instead, the Bulls caved.”
Josh Giddey’s perception is all over the place
This comes just a week after The Athletic’s John Hollinger ranked Giddey’s deal among the five most underrated moves of the offseason, not just signings, but moves. Hollinger praised the Bulls’ decision, noting that in today’s market, $25 million per year isn’t all that exorbitant.
Hollinger even offered a striking comparison: “Giddey’s deal would make him the sixth-highest paid player on the 2026-27 Cleveland Cavaliers or the fifth-highest paid on this year’s Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, New York Knicks or Minnesota Timberwolves.”
Sandwiched between The Athletic’s praise and Bleacher Report’s criticism, Giddey got the harshest judgment from ESPN: he missed their top-100 list entirely. Even more baffling, Mitchell Robinson, Zach Edey, Jonathan Kuminga, and No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg, who hasn’t played a single NBA game, ranked ahead of him.
ESPN snubbing Giddey was already outrageous. Then Bleacher Report piled on, suggesting the 6-foot-8 floor general didn’t deserve the $100 million Chicago handed him, even after an All-Star-caliber finish to last season.
In just a few months, Giddey has become arguably the most polarizing player in the NBA, particularly during the leaguewide restricted free-agent standoff that put all eyes on him. He was the only restricted free agent to sign a long-term deal, while Brooklyn Nets’ Cam Thomas opted for his one-year, $5.9 million qualifying offer.
Pundits can’t agree on Giddey: Was his $100 million contract well-deserved, or an overpay for a player who’s never made an All-Star game and only exceeded expectations after last season’s All-Star break as a former sixth overall pick?
Opinions vary, but Giddey’s contract hardly qualifies as a gross overpay. At just 22, he brings a versatile skill set rare in the league — and he’ll earn less than Immanuel Quickley, Dejounte Murray, and Jordan Poole, for crying out loud. You can’t deny a player who’s counting stats last season rivaled only Nikola Jokić and Luka Dončić.
