Bulls Players Under Most Pressure Entering 2024-25 NBA Season
You wouldn't call what the Chicago Bulls did during the 2024 NBA offseason starting from scratch.
Not when Zach LaVine and Nikola Vučević are still on the roster, or when the front office's unending belief in former No. 4 Patrick Williams was made clear once again, this time via a five-year, $90 million contract commitment.
The Bulls did, however, at least halfway embrace an overdue rebuild. The project is far from finished, obviously, but at least trading away Alex Caruso and letting DeMar DeRozan depart in free agency sent the message that status quo finally isn't cutting it anymore.
Their focus has clearly shifted forward, which perhaps eases whatever win-now pressure this core could've felt the past few seasons. There remains some particularly pressure-packed situations for a few players, though, like the following three.
Josh Giddey
It's hard to knock the numbers Josh Giddey has posted since the Oklahoma City Thunder made him the sixth overall pick in 2021. He not only paces the draft class in assists (1,200), he also holds top-six rankings in points (2,920, sixth) and rebounds (1,534, fourth).
Yet, with limitations as both a shooter and a defender, he proved hard to keep on the floor during playoff time. Too hard, in fact, for the Thunder to keep him around, though the idea to leave the Sooner State came from him during a conversation with general manager Sam Presti.
"I said to him, 'Look, coming off the bench at this point in my career, it's not something I'm trying to do and take a reserve role,'" Giddey told reporters. "He got it. And we worked together through the whole process, and he got me to a great spot."
Giddey clearly views himself as an NBA starter, so it's reasonable to assume he'll want NBA starter money when he signs his next contract, which will surface at some point between now and next summer. By making Giddey the sole piece of their return from the Caruso trade, they've proven they're committed to Giddey's development and should give him every opportunity to prove himself.
If he can't answer opportunity's knock, though, that will hang an ominous cloud over his venture into restricted free agency.
Zach LaVine
LaVine has languished on the trade rumor mill for so long now that he might be paying rent to stay there.
An electric and typically efficient offensive weapon when healthy, his trade value has likely reached a low point with injury problems popping back up, his impact on winning remaining debatable at best and his overpriced salary perpetually climbing. The Bulls can't even incentivize other teams to take him off their hands.
Few players are in such dire need of a reputation repair job. LaVine not only needs to show he can stay on the court after suiting up just 25 times last season, he has to convince clubs that his numbers can matter. While last season's letdown snapped a four-year run of averaging more than 24 points, four assists and 2.5 three-pointers, front offices will focus more on the fact his teams were 2.3 points worse per 100 possessions with him than without during that stretch, per Basketball-Reference.com.
He and the Bulls might be ready to split from one another, but the onus falls on LaVine to rebuild his trade value.
Patrick Williams
Few, if any, contracts signed this summer felt less deserved than Williams' $90 million deal.
That may not be an eye-popping amount of money in the Association, but it's still a steep commitment. Moreover, it's effectively a wager from this front office that the on-court growth Williams failed to show over his first four NBA seasons will suddenly take shape.
To date, he's been a decent three-and-D support player, only he doesn't shoot threes at a high volume and shines more for his defensive versatility than true lockdown ability. Even worse, he holds all of the limitations that three-and-D label subtly applies. He's not an active rebounder, nor a capable creator, nor someone who makes a ton of trips to the foul line.
It's not that he's bad, it's just that he's fine—and has been fine for four consecutive seasons now (two of which, by the way, were majorly impacted by injuries). Chicago clearly believes his best days are ahead of him, and perhaps that will be proved right. So far, though, he bears a striking resemblance to the same player who entered this league four years back.