The Chicago Bulls are trying to sort out some roster details ahead of the 2025-26 NBA season, including most notably what to do about the contract situation of Josh Giddey. One potential answer to the Giddey saga that has been floated has been a potential sign-and-trade deal with the Golden State Warriors that would send Jonathan Kuminga to the Windy City.
However, at the current juncture, that doesn’t appear to be a particularly likely outcome.
Still, that won’t stop the Bulls from potentially having interest in Kuminga at some point down the road, as NBA insider Jake Fischer recently reported on Marc Stein’s Substack.
“Depending on how the Bulls manage their roster in (the) coming months, they could have massive cap space to potentially mount a Kuminga pursuit come next June 30 if he plays things out all the way to unrestricted free agency,” reported Fischer.
Fischer also noted that Kuminga and the Warriors “remain locked into a staring contest that some well-placed observers believe could drag into September at this rate. Kuminga has until Oct. 1 to accept his $8 million qualifying offer for the 2025-26 season and bet on himself to capitalize once he becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer.”
This all comes amid reports from ClutchPoints’ Brett Siegel that “Golden State has essentially backed Kuminga into a corner” in terms of their contract talks, with a resolution expected soon.
A big potential piece for the Bulls
Last year, the Bulls finally put together some semblance of a young core to build around, featuring Giddey, Coby White, and 2024 NBA Draft pick Matas Buzelis.
While the result of the season was a familiar one (a play-in game exit vs the Miami Heat), at least Chicago fans could put their stock into something with the potential to grow as opposed to the aging knees of DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine.
If the Bulls were able to get a deal worked out with Giddey and then sign Kuminga next summer, they could have a few legitimately intriguing young pieces to build around and would fit right into the current NBA prototype of positionless basketball.
However, first things first is getting something done with Giddey, and as of yet, the two sides have not seen eye to eye on contract negotiations.
The good news is that there are still over two months until the NBA season gets underway.
