Lu Dort Bulls roster logic<\/p>\n
Giddey has three seasons left on his contract as of the 2026-27 NBA season.\u00a0 While Giddey is still playing on a relatively reasonable annual contract price tag of $25 million per year, the Bulls need to figure out sooner rather than later who their long-term starting backcourt will be to presumably support the continued growth of their wing tandem<\/a> of Caleb Wilson and Matas Buzelis.<\/p>\n Dort is extension-eligible and is also playing the 2026-27 NBA season on a $17.7 million expiring contract.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In a scenario in which the Bulls don\u2019t see any trade offers for guard Noman Powell that would return desirable draft capital, perhaps the Hawks could be motivated to swap Dort for Powell to optimize their veteran guard minutes towards a viable three-point shooting threat, while Dort would certainly give the Bulls a legitimate point-of-attack defender who would be able to handle a variety of positional assignments as a defender.<\/p>\n Backcourt reunion risks for the Bulls<\/p>\n Pairing Dort with Giddey as a starting Bulls backcourt would be a basketball experiment to validate, as opposed to a basketball solution that is guaranteed to work.\u00a0 Both Giddey and Dort are generally treated as non-shooters by opposing defenses, despite the strides both players have made in recent seasons as three-point shooters.<\/p>\n In Giddey\u2019s two seasons playing for the Bulls, he has shot 37.1% on 4.5 three-point attempts per game. Meanwhile, Dort\u2019s three-point shooting demonstrated a noticeable peak between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 NBA seasons, in which he shot 40.3% on 5.4 three-point attempts per game, according to Basketball Reference.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no reward without risk<\/p>\n For a young roster in desperate need of a defensive identity, there\u2019s value in taking the risk of fielding a flawed shooting backcourt when one of the guards will provide high-level on-ball defense, while the other guard\u2019s underappreciated defensive contribution is his defensive rebounding.<\/p>\n Ideas on what Tiago Splitter could game plan to reduce some of the offensive concerns of a Giddey-Dort backcourt might include putting Giddey into inverted ball-screen actions to put him in position to make short-roll passing reads.\u00a0 Or maybe it could be turning Dort into the designated Iverson cutter<\/a> in Splitter\u2019s offense to either create space or find open spots for shot attempts.<\/p>\n Overall, pairing Giddey with Dort will either dramatically improve the Bulls’ defense or it will give Graham a frame of reference to decide if Giddey is a long-term piece to keep on his Bulls roster.<\/p>\n
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