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The Chicago Bulls seem to have learned their lesson after the disaster that was the Patrick Williams extension, but the Josh Giddey situation isn’t the time to do a complete 180.<\/p>\n
Vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karni\u0161ovas handed Williams, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, a five-year, $90 million contract last offseason. Williams’ deal to remain in the Windy City was one of the first moves announced when free agency kicked off.<\/p>\n
The Bulls had until October to agree with Williams on an extension.<\/p>\n
Then 22 years old and coming off a season in which he only played 43 games and averaged just 10.0 points and 3.9 rebounds, the idea of giving Williams $90 million before<\/em> Karni\u0161ovas got a chance to gauge his market will go down as one of the most questionable (at best) decisions he’s made during his time at the helm in Chicago.<\/p>\n The move looks even worse a year later. Williams scored 9.0 ppg in 2024-25 and was eventually relegated to a bench role once rookie Matas Buzelis replaced him in the starting lineup.<\/p>\n Based on the still-ongoing negotiations between the Bulls and Giddey — which have already lasted more than two months longer than those between the team and Williams — Karni\u0161ovas appears to have learned from his mistake. That’s a good thing.<\/p>\n What’s not so good is that Chicago actually needs<\/em> Giddey. It didn’t need to keep hold of a draft bust like Williams.<\/p>\n Dating back to last summer, when Chicago acquired him from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Alex Caruso, Giddey and his camp were looking for a contract extension worth $30 million per season. The Bulls declined and instead let the then-21-year-old play out the final year of his rookie deal.<\/p>\n After a so-so start to the year, the 6-foot-8 point guard from Down Under became the driver of head coach Billy Donovan’s revamped offense centered around pace, 3-point shooting and transition opportunities.<\/p>\n After the all-star break, Giddey averaged 21.2 points, 10.7 rebounds and 9.3 assists, leading the second-best offense in the league over that time and guiding a group that won 17 of its final 27 regular-season games. He went from being a 31.0 percent 3-point shooter over his first three seasons to hitting 37.8 percent of his triples last year. He proved himself to be a crucial piece of the Bulls’ future.<\/p>\n Giddey is still holding out for that $30 million per year extension. Chicago is staying strong with an offer worth $20 million annually. The team offered their starting floor general a four-year, $80 million deal, according to NBA insider Jake Fischer via The Stein Line<\/em> substack.<\/p>\n It’s great that Karni\u0161ovas isn’t repeating last summer’s Williams error. It bodes well for a front office that needs to change. And with every bit of leverage in negotiations, the Bulls shouldn’t cave to Giddey’s $30 million demands. But at some point, it’s time to stop being inflexible and find a middle ground.<\/p>\n Williams isn’t essential to Chicago. Giddey absolutely is.<\/p>\n The Bulls seem to have learned their lesson after the Patrick Williams extension, but the Josh Giddey situation isn’t the time to do a complete 180.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":88424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\nBulls are picking the wrong time to be stubborn in restricted free agency<\/h2>\n