The Chicago Bulls made a bet on Josh Giddey's shooting improving when they traded Alex Caruso for him in 2024, and so far that bet has paid off.
The 6-foot-7 Melbourne, Australia native came into Chicago as a career 31% 3-point shooter over three years with the Oklahoma City Thunder. In his first season as a Chicago Bull (2024-25), Giddey shot a career-best 37.8% from 3-point range.
He followed that up with 36.4% from deep on a career-high 5.2 attempts per game.
Any doubts about Giddey's work ethic should be put to rest after his steady improvement as a shooter in terms of accuracy and volume. But as we head into the 2025-26 season I think it's fair to ask:
Can Giddey take another step to improve even further as a shooter?
There will, of course, be some cap to how good of shooter Giddey can become, but the constant reshaping of the Bulls roster provides some reasonable room for improvement.
Giddey is capable as a catch-and-shoot player but still isn't doing much to scare defenses as a pull-up shooter. Over the 2025-26 season, he took 1.6 pull-up 3-point attempts per game, converting at a 32.6% clip.
That is an improvement in terms of aggressiveness over 2025 where he shot 35.3% on pull-up 3-pointers, but on an extremely low volume of 0.7 attempts per game.
The pull-up shooting is the first thing I mention because it is the key to opposing defenses guarding Giddey differently.
If a defender bites on Giddey appearing to pull up from 3-point range, it would give him better angles to beat his defender off the dribble. This is crucial for a player who doesn't have the foot speed to just constantly blow by defenders. Players like Luka Doncic--obviously a different beast entirely--also have that foot speed issue, but whereas Giddey is a non-threat as a pull up shooter, Doncic's entire game is built around that very shot.
Giddey doesn't need to build his game around pull-up 3-pointers, but increasing his volume would go a long way towards manipulating defenses.
The Bulls will have semi-transition opportunities this upcoming season that will see the explosive Caleb Wilson and Matas Buzelis storming down the court, providing the perfect opportunities for Giddey to work on his pull-up 3-point shot as a trailer on the fastbreak.
The catch-and-shoot efficiency could go either way.
While Giddey will undoubtedly be playing with more talented teammates than the previous season, there is no guarantee that the floor spacing will be better than last season in the halfcourt. Nonetheless, Giddey shot 38.1% from 3-point range on 3.1 catch-and-shoot 3-point FGAs per game (per NBA.com). This marks the second straight season in which he has knocked down 38% of his catch-and-shoot 3-point FGAs.
Something clicked for Giddey when he got to Chicago in terms of his jumpshot. It could've been working with since departed shooting coach Peter Patton--now with the New York Knicks--or it could've been the freedom of a fresh start following his stint with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Either way, Giddey has turned himself into a player that you can no longer leave wide open from deep. The next step is getting defenses to not only pay attention to you, but show urgency when you catch the ball beyond the 3-point line, and I believe that he can get to that point as early as next season.
Playing next to the scoring prowess of Norman Powell, and the slashing ability of Wilson and Buzelis, will represent Giddey's best chance to take that next step as a shooter.