Josh Giddey is about to step into a season that matters.
The 2026-27 campaign will be his age-24 year, and it arrives as the Bulls’ new basketball direction starts to take shape under front office leader Bryson Graham and head coach Tiago Splitter. That part is simple enough: Chicago wants pace, wants ball movement, and wants a system that will be tested in actual games, not just in theory.
The harder question is what that means for Giddey.
At this stage of his career, after five NBA seasons and 9,926 regular-season minutes, he feels like a player whose ceiling is still being debated in real time. There may be more to unlock.
There also may be a fairly clear limit to how much he changes from here. That tension makes this third Bulls season a big one for him.
One useful lens comes from Minnesota coach Chris Finch, who recently talked on a podcast about the drawbacks of offenses built too heavily around one player. Finch’s point carried extra weight because he spent time as a Houston assistant and saw James Harden’s rise in a system that revolved around massive usage. He also made it clear in his current job that Anthony Edwards is being steered away from ball-dominant responsibility so he can work more naturally as a scorer.
That doesn’t make Giddey Harden, and it doesn’t make him Edwards either. The comparison is more of a basketball lesson than a player-to-player matchup.
Giddey’s career usage rate sits at 23.2 percent, according to Basketball Reference. That’s nowhere near Harden’s 33.3 percent in nine seasons with Houston, or Edwards’ 31.2 percent during his All-Star stretch from 2022 to 2026. Still, Giddey is above the league’s mathematical baseline for usage, which matters when you start talking about what kind of offensive role best fits him.
If a coach like Finch, who has seen elite players work against the limits of heliocentric basketball, is steering away from that model, the message for Giddey is pretty direct: maybe less of the offense should run through him, and more of his value should come from what happens after the ball moves.
For Chicago, that could mean Giddey spending less time dribbling, passing, and initiating, and more time finishing possessions. The clearest next step is making open threes.
The next layer after that is learning to attack closeouts when those shots are there. That may be where his offensive growth lives now.
In Other News...
Bulls Enter Camp With One Health Question Still Lingering
Training camp is opening with the Bulls still sorting out the health picture, and for most of the roster, the signs are encouraging. Around the league, several notable names have already offered upbeat updates, with Tyrese Haliburton saying he is fully healthy after his Achilles injury, Stephen Curry reporting no current limitations, Luka Doncic cleared after a hamstring strain and Bradley Beal working back from hip surgery while also managing knee inflammation.
For Chicago, the larger issue is less about the star power and more about how many bodies are ready to go once camp begins. Josh Giddey has no restrictions after offseason ankle surgery, which helps settle one question, but there is still at least one lingering concern in camp as the Bulls get set to start Tuesday. Of the teams health questions, this is the one that could matter most if it stretches into the preseason. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Just Sent A Clear Message About Where This Front Office Is Headed
The Bulls keep signaling a shift toward a younger, more modern basketball operations structure, and their latest move fits that pattern. Michael Reinsdorf announced the hiring of Bryson Graham into the front office, adding another voice to the basketball operations department as Chicago continues reshaping the way it staffs key decision-making roles.
Graham arrives with experience that should matter right away, having spent much of his career with the Pelicans before a run as vice president of basketball operations with the Hawks. For a Bulls organization trying to reset its internal direction, the hire says plenty about the kind of profile it is now targeting, even if the broader picture of how this new group will ultimately take shape is still coming into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Just Sent A Clear Message About This Rebuild
Bryson Grahams first notable move since joining the Bulls signaled exactly where Chicago wants this rebuild to go. Rather than treating every young name as a long-term keeper, the front office is clearly leaning into flexibility, reshaping the roster on the fly and keeping enough room to change course as the next phases of the rebuild come into focus.
Buddy Hield and cash assets now give Chicago a different kind of leverage, and the larger message is hard to miss: the Bulls are not locking themselves into a fixed timeline. With several players carrying team options next season, there is still plenty of room for more turnover, which means this is shaping up as a roster built for constant adjustment rather than quick commitments. [Read more 🡒]