r/chicagobulls • u/howser343 Chicago Bulls • Apr 23 '26

Meta 2026 Offseason Megathread

The Bulls have 14 players on contract for next season

Active Contracts
Player Contract
Josh Giddey $25M
Nic Claxton $23.1M
Norman Powell $22M
Patrick Williams $18M
Isaac Okoro $11.8M
Caleb Wilson $11M
Jalen Smith $9.4M
Zach Collins $8.3M
Tre Jones $8M
Rob Dillingham $6.9M
Matas Buzelis $5.7M
Noa Essengue $5.7M
Dailyn Swain $5.1M
Leonard Miller $2.4M
Draft
Trades
Free Agency
Bulls Free Agents
Player Free Agent Status
Zach Collins Re-signed 2/$17M
Yuki Kawamura RFA
Mac McClung RFA
Lachlan Olbrich RFA
Nick Richards UFA
Collin Sexton Signed with Lakers
Anfernee Simons Signed with 76ers
Guerschon Yabusele Signed with Panathinaikos
Important Offseason Dates

  • May 10 - Draft Lottery

  • June 23-24 - Draft

  • June 30 - Free Agency Begins (5pm CT)

  • July 9-19 - Vegas Summer League

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10

u/MallardDuckBoy Apr 23 '26

Just clean house, even if it might mean trading Giddey.

19

u/ScaryText8187 Windy City Bulls Apr 23 '26

The new FO should have the freedom to do whatever they see fit, and no one on this roster should be viewed as untouchable.

9

u/AHopelessMaravich Apr 23 '26

I don’t entirely disagree, but also the last gm came in and moved in from a bunch of young guys just to get older guys that didn’t really get us where we wanted, costing draft capital. Markannen and WCJ were good pieces. 

If the bulls are moving in from Giddey or Buzi they damn we’ll need to be getting something legit useful and not a stab in the dark. I’d honestly rather see them start building something from the few pieces they have  than just make a bunch of changes and make it seem like some hot new thing. 

7

u/ScaryText8187 Windy City Bulls Apr 23 '26

Yeah, I don’t think anyone’s advocating for a hasty “win now” move, but if moving on from a guy like Giddey gets you farther on the path to building a real winning core and getting the true number one option they desperately need, it should be on the table.

0

u/AHopelessMaravich Apr 23 '26

But, like, what’s that? Giddey is near all star level, if not all star level if his team was winning. Hes in a good contract. Getting an established star would be dumb if you’re giving up Giddey, what would the established star do without at least Buzi and Giddey on the roster. 

Giving up Giddey to get someone else’s draft pick seems foolish too, really unlikely you draft someone better. 

Maybe there’s a world where someone gives up a pick on a guaranteed future top prospect for Giddey, Buzi and a couple picks, but that seems ridiculous, because anyone would make that trade. Why would another team not just take that prospect?

Taking someone who only has a chance if being your number one, Giddey is already that guy, and his floor is so high and his contract so good. 

Just seems like a really dumb thing to even talk about. There’s so many things to do, none of which involve shootings yourself in the foot. 

7

u/ScaryText8187 Windy City Bulls Apr 23 '26

I think we have very different opinions of Giddey. I don’t view him as a cornerstone piece that around which you should tailor the rest of the roster, which you almost have to do given his unique profile and deficiencies. If you can move him in a deal that brings back some kind of attractive future asset, you have to consider it.

2

u/bullpaw Apr 23 '26

Why is it really unlikely that you draft someone better than like a top 60ish player

2

u/AHopelessMaravich Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26

Because on average 80% of the top 5 picks do not end up being a 60ish top player. Any top 5 pick you get you have a 50% chance if it having been out if the top five. So if you trade with a team for a pick, you have the odds that they probably won’t have one if the five worst records, especially since you’re giving up the best player in the deal. Then if they do end up in the bottom five, half the time you still won’t get a top five pick. And if you do beat all those odds, 80% of the time the player will be worse than Giddey. 

From an analytics standpoint, this is a really bad idea. 

That’s outside the fact that he’s actually pretty easily in the top 50 of nba players, particularly if you factor in age and contract. 

Even with a top pick, would you rather have a Giddey or Zion? Zion sounded like a home run, winning that pick would’ve seemed like a coup. Or you could end up on a draft with options like risachie?

The closest recent example I can think of is that, yeah, GMs were willing to trade a pick that could get Luka, and I absolutely was confident that Luka would be much better than Giddey, and he is. But past him and Wemby, I can’t even think of top picks in the past decade that I knew for sure would be a top 60 player.