How 23-year-old Josh Giddey is leading Bulls rebuild

• ‍Josh Giddey passes Michael Jordan on all-time triple double list‍
• How to watch every Josh Giddey Bulls game in 2026-27‍
• Bookmark Josh Giddey's NBA Profile for News Updates

Josh Giddey is leading the Chicago Bulls rebuild, and he humbly reminded the basketball world he’s just 23 years old.

“I’m six years into the league, but I’m 23 years old, so whether you call me a veteran is subjective,” Giddey said today.

“I like to think I’ve got enough experience to understand what it’s like to be part of playoff series and what it’s like to miss them. I’ve seen a lot in my six years.”

Giddey already has more triple-doubles (31) than Hall of Famers Michael Jordan (28), Elgin Baylor (26), Clyde Drexler (25), Walt Frazier (23), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (21), and Kobe Bryant (21).

He’s just two TDs behind the new Sacramento Kings Aussie in the NBA, Ben Simmons (33).

Giddey is also the youngest player in NBA history to do it: 19-year-old (and 84 days) Josh Giddey had 17 points, 14 assists, and 13 rebounds on January 2, 2022, for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“It helps to have gone through it,” Giddey said of the Bulls bringing in a new Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, Bryson Graham, head coach Tiago Splitter, and a raft of new players, including explosive NBA draft pick Caleb Wilson and a trade for knockdown shooter Buddy Hield.

“It’s a good feeling to have stability,” Giddey said.

“We’ve been able to be amongst the same people for a while now. There have been a lot of changes within the organisation over the last 12 months, so having Bryson and Tiago come in and being able to get settled with them has been great. There have been a lot of moving parts with players and staff as well.

“Bryson has been awesome. The first day he signed, we got on the phone and spoke. He’s a very personal guy, really easy to be around and talk to. He’s someone you can talk to about anything.

“Those relationships are important to build. For someone as high up as he is in the front office to make time to create relationships with people speaks volumes about who he is. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about him.

“I’ve gone through a rebuild, and it was a quick one.

“It wasn’t a 10-year rebuild; it happened over 24 months. I understand that you can’t skip steps. You have to go through the struggle to get to the light at the end of the tunnel.

“That’s not to say the tunnel is going to be dark forever. This team is talented and has a great mix of younger and older guys. You bring in guys like (Norman Powell), who’s played on championship teams, and (Nic Claxton), who’s been in the league a long time.

“They understand what it takes to be part of successful groups. It’s important to have that mix, and I think we have it.

“I can help guys early in their careers understand that your trajectory in the NBA is never a straight line upwards. There are times during the year when it’s tough, and you feel like the roof is caving in. There are also times when you shine and feel like you’re the best thing on the planet.

“It’s about managing those emotions, and helping guys with that early on will be important.”

The Bulls have been a middle-of-the-pack NBA franchise for the better part of a decade, but Giddey is adamant the six-time NBA champions are putting the right building blocks in place.

“I’ve been on a team that was the No. 1 seed, and I’ve been on a team that was a lower seed in the league,” he said.

“It’s not something completely foreign to me.

“With this group, it’s a young team, a talented team, and we’ve got a good mix of veterans and younger guys. In terms of my role, as the point guard, you want to be a leader.

“You want to be an extension of the coach on the court and make sure guys are on the same page. I think it’s my job to put guys in positions to be successful, and that might look different on any given night.

“To put a ceiling on this team would be the wrong thing to do. Internally, we believe what we have in this locker room is good enough to compete every night. Consistency is going to be important for us.

“In terms of the rebuild, I’ve been a part of it, so I know you can’t skip steps along the way. The ultimate goal is to be a championship-contending team, and we’re no different.

“But there are steps you have to take to get there. This group understands it’s a process, and you can’t skip steps.”

One of those stepping stones was drafting Wilson, the one-and-done 20-year-old pure athlete out of North Carolina.

“Summer League was kind of his first impression in front of everyone on an NBA stage, and I think he did that in spades. He looked very comfortable out there.

“But it’s obviously a different level when you play against NBA talent in the regular season.

“One thing he doesn’t lack is confidence, and that’s an incredibly good skill to have coming in as a high draft pick. Obviously, there’s a lot of external pressure on him from the media, and it just comes naturally with being such a high pick in a draft. But he has an unbelievable work ethic.

“Anytime I’m over there late at night, he’s always in the gym. He’s always in early and leaves late. For a guy with as much talent as him, working as hard as he does is probably his special talent.

“It’s certainly going to make him better as a player.”

Giddey signed a USD $100M four-year extension before the start of last season and was playing at an All-Star level before injuring his hamstring in late December 2025. The head coach who brought him to the Bulls, Billy Donovan, stepped down at the end of last season.

The Bulls signed former Portland Trail Blazers coach Splitter as his replacement.

“He’s been great,” Giddey added.

“We spoke literally the day he signed. I was in Australia, and we got on the phone. He’s a recently retired player, so he can really see the game through a player’s lens. He’s played at the highest level, won championships and been part of very successful teams.

“He knows what it takes to build a successful team.

“He wants to play an up-tempo, fast-paced game, kind of the same way we’ve played these last couple of years. The early conversations I’ve had with him have been really good. He’s going to give it to you straight. He’s not going to beat around the bush; he’ll tell you how he sees it.

“In the offseason, the head coach doesn’t coach a ton. Now that we’re ramping up into training camp, he’ll be more heavily involved. It’ll be good to see how he operates when the real stuff starts. I’ve built a great relationship with him so far, and I’m excited to play under him.”

Expect the ball to be in the hands of Giddey a lot, but the 2.01m Melbourne-born revealed the Bulls are going to get out and run with multiple points of attack.

“The first part of the offence is probably playing with pace in transition,” he said.

“Once we get stuck in the half-court, that’s something we’ve probably struggled with the last couple of years. When teams take away transition opportunities, what do we do in the half-court?

“You don’t want to get stagnant. You want to keep moving the ball, create advantages and stay in those advantages. We’ll have half-court sets and offences that we run through. We’ve gone over things briefly, but it’s probably something we’ll get into more over the next four days: once teams stop our transition, what are we going to get into?

“We’ve got a lot of different weapons. Clax is a lob threat, Norm can shoot the ball from anywhere, and we’ve got big wings who are elite in transition, Matas and Caleb.

“That gives us versatility to do different things in the half court. We’ll get into the sets more over the next few days.

“Being a point guard, the ball is naturally in your hands more, but that doesn’t mean I have to bring it up the court every time. We’ve got a lot of versatile guys. Whether it’s Matas or Caleb getting rebounds and pushing the ball in transition, that’s probably going to happen a lot as well.

“When people hear ‘point guard’, they usually think the ball is in his hands all the time, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Once we get into the half court and we’re initiating a set, or it’s after a timeout, a lot of times it’ll probably start with me. But other guys can handle the ball and create actions.

“My role has been pretty similar throughout my career in terms of handling the ball. But I’m not shy about running the wing, running the lane and getting out in transition, allowing other guys to handle it as well. We’ve got a versatile group, and I’m sure a ton of guys will handle the ball.

For Bulls fans, the prospect of Giddey pushing the ball in transition with Wilson and Matas Buzelis running the lanes is a highlight reel waiting to happen.

“The first thing is transition. As a big guard, I love to rebound, and my first look when I get a rebound is to kick the ball ahead. Those guys are elite at getting downhill in transition.

“They’re both extreme athletes who can get above the rim. It’s a point guard’s dream to have them running the wings and to be able to kick it ahead to them.

“Building that connection in the offseason and playing pickup with both of them has been good. I’ve played with Matas for a couple of years, and Caleb is a similar player.

“He excels in transition when he’s got a head of steam. It’s a lot of fun for me, and we’ve got other guys who can get out and run. I’m sure there’ll be times when I’m the one running for them.

“Caleb is a super-talented player. It’s going to be a lot of fun watching him grow this year and trying to help where I can.”

The Bulls play their first pre-season game against the Phoenix Suns on October 8, 2026, at 11am (AEDT) and open their season against the Toronto Raptors on Thursday, October 22, at 10.30am (AEDT).