Josh Giddey has 100 million reasons to stay put in Chicago.
The 22-year-old NBA star this week signed a contract extension with the Chicago Bulls worth a whopping US$100 (A$150 million) over its four years — a deal that confirms him as one of Australia’s most valuable athletes.
Giddey, a long, 6’8” guard with a team-friendly, pass-first mentality, kept his cool as negotiations dragged on well into the NBA’s offseason.
The Melbourne-born baller could have snaffled a one-year US$11.14 million qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent in the next offseason, but he held out, waited, and made bank.
ESPN’s Shams Charania broke the news this week, and Giddey confirmed it with a social post.
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Giddey, a one-time NBL rookie of the year and son of retired Melbourne Tigers’ defensive specialist Warrick Giddey, joined the Bulls in June 2024 through a trade from the Oklahoma City Thunder, the franchise that drafted him with the sixth overall pick in 2021.
He then had to watch his old team progress through the playoffs, and win the NBA title for the very first time.
If the trade stung, and the success of the player he was traded for, Alex Caruso, was a bummer, he didn’t show it. Giddey went on a tear with his new team in the final months of the season, piling on triple-doubles and completing a series of remarkable plays late in a memorable win against the Los Angeles Lakers. It was Giddey who landed the miracle shot from halfcourt as the clock expired, a moment so fantastic the NBA ranked it No. 1 in its countdown of “top plays” for the season.
Across the season with the Bulls, he averaged 14.6 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists, those latter two career highs. If Giddey has a weakness in his game, it’s his shooting from distance. He’s been ironing out those kinks in the gym, turning a perceived liability into a solid 37.8 percent made from the three-point line for the season, a career high.
At the Bulls, Giddey will line-up with another Australian-born NBL baller, the 6’10” forward Lachlan Olbrich, who was drafted with the 55th overall pick. Olbrich, fresh off winning the NBL title with Illawarra Hawks, impressed NBA scouts and executives in the offseason with his size, hustle and athleticism, and did enough to earn a two-way contract, which will see him split time with the Bulls and its G-League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls.
If the immediate future is certain for Giddey, and his Boomers backcourt partner Dyson Daniels, a rising star for the Atlanta Hawks, the same can’t be said for Ben Simmons. The 6’10” former three-times NBA All-Star and rookie of the year has reportedly split with his agent, rejected a minimum contract with the New York Knicks, and is said to be mulling retirement.
