‘Pay that man’: Massive Josh Giddey payday looms despite Bulls being bundled out

Josh Giddey’s first season in Chicago may have come to an end on Thursday, but he is still expected to cash in big time.

Josh Giddey’s first season in Chicago has come to an end after the Bulls suffered a 109-90 defeat at the hands of the Miami Heat in a must-win NBA play-in tournament game.

Giddey, who is a restricted free agent this summer, is set for a big payday after an impressive stretch to close out the regular season — and Richard Jefferson had a clear message for the Bulls after Thursday’s game.

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“Pay that man his money,” he said in commentary of Giddey, who scored 25 points to go with 10 rebounds, four assists and three turnovers.

“It’d be shocking if they didn’t,” added Mike Breen.

It was a mixed showing from the 22-year-old, with the Heat targeting Giddey early on defence.

But, to his credit, the Australian recovered well and was Chicago’s most consistent threat in a game which saw the Bulls punished for a sluggish start on the defensive end.

Josh Giddey is set for a big payday. Image: Getty

For Chicago, it was a disappointing finish to a season which looked to be heading in an all-too familiar direction — with the team doing just enough to qualify for the play-in tournament but not ever looking a chance of making much noise otherwise.

Of course, that ended up being the case, but given the way the Bulls closed out the season there was at least some optimism that Chicago could push for a playoff berth.

Instead, the Bulls were humbled by a Heat team led by Tyler Herro (38 points) in a reminder of just how far away this team is from genuinely contending for the championship.

Still, there is a young core to potentially build around in Chicago led by Giddey, who ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Thursday played through a muscle tear in the palm of his right hand, describing it as a “pain tolerance injury”.

While this version of Giddey is far removed from the defensive liability he was in the Dallas series during his Oklahoma City days, Miami attacked him with success early in Thursday’s game.

Specifically, Herro blew by him for the first bucket of the game, although in Giddey’s defence he wasn’t the only one offering little resistance.

Rather, that early Herro layup ended up being a sign of what was to come as the Heat guard got to the rim three times in the first two minutes with the Bulls offering him wide-open driving lanes.

It forced Chicago coach Billy Donovan into a quick timeout, with the Heat up 10-5, but it did little to stop Miami, and Herro in particular, from feasting in the paint.

In fact, 16 of the Heat’s first 19 points came in the paint.

While Giddey was found wanting defensively early, he was playing with the same intensity on the offensive end that saw him emerge as one of the NBA’s most in-form players since the All-Star break.

Early in the game Giddey settled for a floater and missed but made up for it, hustling for the rebound and laying it in before later driving hard at Alec Burks and drawing the foul.

Giddey got downhill again later in the quarter to score, making it 25-14 in the Heat’s favour, and soon after Coby White found him cutting hard towards the rim for the finish.

Josh Giddey couldn’t lift the Bulls over the line in their play-in match against the Miami Heat. Photo by Justin Casterline / GETTY IMAGES

The Heat had Bam Adebayo matched up with Giddey in a move that allowed the Miami big man to offer extra paint protection early, as long as the Australian didn’t make him pay for sagging off him.

That was the case for the majority of the first quarter as Giddey missed his first two 3-point attempts, until Giddey made a 3-pointer late in the piece.

While Giddey has excelled in a ball-dominant role in Chicago since Zach LaVine was traded, he has also improved his game off-the-ball — as was evident in his final bucket of the quarter as the Bulls guard cut towards the rim and kept providing an option before Zach Collins found him for the finish.

Giddey had 13 points and three rebounds in the opening quarter, while a Matas Buzelis 3-pointer on the buzzer gave the Bulls some momentum as Miami’s lead was trimmed to 39-28.

That momentum was short-lived though as Chicago continued to struggle on the defensive end, with the Heat kicking ahead 47-30 early in the second.

It didn’t get any better from that point, with the Bulls heading into the locker room to a smattering of boos and a 71-47 deficit.

It was Miami’s largest halftime lead of the season, with Herro (23 points) leading the way while Giddey went scoreless in the second quarter.

The Bulls needed a response early in the third to have any chance of keeping their season alive and while they weren’t able to convert on a few good looks, they were starting to come up with stops on the defensive end.

That, in turn, allowed Chicago — who ranked second in the NBA this season in pace — to push the ball in transition.

Giddey got downhill for his first points since the opening quarter while Buzelis had a pair of nice drives as the Bulls reduced Miami’s lead to 76-59.

While shots weren’t falling for the Heat like they were earlier in the game, they were still playing with enough intent on the defensive end to stop Chicago from mounting a serious comeback.

In fact, Miami pushed ahead by 20 points in the final minute of the third quarter before a quick 6-0 run saw the Bulls end the period on a high.

But once again that high was short-lived as the Heat cruised to a comfortable win.

They will now play Dyson Daniels and the Hawks on Saturday morning, with the winner to face top seed Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs.

Originally published as ‘Pay that man’: Massive Josh Giddey payday looms despite Bulls being bundled out