Bulls' Josh Giddey Remains Outside Top 50 NBA Players in Latest Ranking

Much like the Bulls, Josh Giddey's 2025-26 season has been turbulent.

Chicago's 23-year-old point guard, fresh off signing a four-year, $100 million contract in September, got off to a hot start during the early part of the year. Giddey was on pace to earn his first career All-Star nod until he went down with a hamstring injury on Dec. 29.

The results since he returned to the court have been mixed, to say the least. Giddey still shows the flashes of All-Star potential as he eases back into Chicago's lineup, but after the Bulls completed a fire sale at the trade deadline, their starting point guard has faced the difficult task of trying to build chemistry with almost an entirely new group of teammates.

His inconsistent play of late, combined with the dysfunction around him, has led to a winless February for the Bulls. It's also kept Giddey from earning the outside respect that his leap had warranted prior to his injury.

The Australian guard came in at No. 61 on The Ringer's list of the Top 100 Players in the NBA on Tuesday, making him the only Bull to crack the rankings.

"Giddey had been playing the best basketball of his young career earlier this season, but even that couldn’t elevate Chicago out of play-in purgatory," writers Justin Verrier and Rob Mahoney said. "His talent level is clear. The way it fits in on a truly competitive team is less so. Given that, it has always made sense for the Bulls to step back and build a roster with Giddey more explicitly in mind. This isn’t the kind of playmaker you can just throw into the mix; Chicago should explore Giddey’s natural passing aptitude to the fullest effect, but doing so requires an approach much more deliberate than the Bulls’ usual trudge to mediocrity."

Giddey began the season ranked No. 75 on The Ringer's list before climbing to No. 48 in November. He then dropped to No. 55 and No. 61 in December and January, respectively, and remained at the latter for this week's ranking.

Over his first 30 games this season, Giddey averaged 19.2 points, 9.0 assists and 8.9 rebounds per game. Each of those figures were career-highs, and he was shooting at a 38.6% clip from beyond the arc on top of that. The Bulls were 15-15 in such games, although it's important to acknowledge that the team battled injuries to key players such as Coby White, Isaac Okoro, Tre Jones, Jalen Smith and Zach Collins during that time.

Since then, Giddey has played in seven of the Bulls' 26 games across two separate stints. His per-game averages have plummeted to 13.1 points, 6.1 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game on only 40.5% shooting and 27.6% from deep.

There is hope, though, that the former first-round pick can return to form. Just two games ago, in a loss to the Detroit Pistons, Giddey hit 10 of his 16 shots for 27 points. However, that performance was sandwiched by a five-point game against the Raptors and a six-point effort against the Knicks, so Giddey still has a long way to go.