A pair of Bulls point guards will enter the 2024/25 season on expiring contracts. Lonzo Ball is entering the final season of the four-year deal he signed with the team back in 2021, while newcomer Josh Giddey is on track for restricted free agency in 2025 after not coming to terms with Chicago on a rookie scale extension.
Ball will be eligible for a veteran extension throughout the season, but he’s an unlikely candidate for a new deal prior to free agency after missing the past two-and-a-half years. For now, he’s just happy to be back on the court. Head coach Billy Donovan said the plan will be to have Ball play about 14 to 16 minutes against New Orleans in the team’s regular season opener on Wednesday, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network (Twitter link).
Giddey was a more viable extension candidate ahead of the season, but he’s not stressed about not completing a deal. He told reporters on Tuesday that he “loves being here” and that the contract situation will “take care of itself,” as Johnson relays (via Twitter).
While Giddey admits that the prospect of an extension weighed on him last season, he doesn’t expect to be distracted by his impending free agency this season. It probably helps that the Bulls specifically targeted him in a trade this past summer, whereas his place in Oklahoma City’s long-term future was always uncertain.
We have more from around the Central:
- Chicago native Talen Horton-Tucker officially made the Bulls‘ regular season roster, making him the only player on an Exhibit 10 contract this fall to have that deal become a standard non-guaranteed deal. He called it a “dream come true” to be opening the season with his hometown team, tweets Johnson.
- Bucks head coach Doc Rivers confirmed today that forward Khris Middleton still hasn’t participated in a 5-on-5 scrimmage and won’t play on Wednesday vs. Philadelphia. However, Middleton hasn’t experienced any setbacks in his recovery from offseason ankle surgeries and is considered day-to-day (Twitter links via Eric Nehm of The Athletic). “I would say if this is a playoff game, he’d probably be playing or close to it,” Rivers said.
- Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has been impressed by rookie forward Ron Holland‘s team-first attitude this fall, as Keith Langlois of Pistons.com relays. “The only thing that matters to him is impacting winning,” Bickerstaff said. “It’s important that at his age he understands the intangibles that impact winning. His mindset isn’t, ‘I’ve got to go out and score 30 points, take 30 shots.’ His mindset is, ‘What needs to be done right now to help this team?’ That’s why he’s fit in so well and can fit in with different groups because he has the ability to fill the intangible parts of the game.”
- After standing pat while most of their Eastern Conference rivals shook up their rosters this summer, the Cavaliers will have to show they can take a step forward in 2024/25 with their current core, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required). If the Cavs season ends like ’23/24 did, with a second-round playoff exit, the front office will have more significant decision to make in the 2025 offseason, according to Fedor.