Backcourt partnership between Josh Giddey and Coby White takes center stage for Bulls

Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune on Oct 2, 2025

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CHICAGO — The offense in Chicago officially will run through Josh Giddey and Coby White this season.

The duo represents a turning point for the Bulls as an organization — two guards under 26 who could develop into the future leaders of the franchise. And after ripping off 40-point games and breathless buzzer-beaters to fuel a 15-5 finish to last season, the two have given some hope to the front office’s prospects for a long-term development plan.

But for those future hopes to come to fruition, Giddey and White first have to prove their partnership is a sustainable blueprint for success.

Off the court, the pairing came easily. Giddey admittedly is quieter than White, whose bubbly personality acts as a center of gravity for the entire locker room. So White took it as a personal challenge to get Giddey to open up in his first season in Chicago, mostly by asking questions about the guard’s upbringing in Australia.

He was fascinated to learn about a “drop bear,” a type of large Australian bruin with a tendency to drop down on unwitting prey from the top of trees — and equally bewildered to learn several weeks later that Giddey made the animal up as a harmless prank.

After Giddey re-signed with the Bulls this summer on a four-year, $100 million deal, both players have a deeper understanding of the weight their relationship will hold for the development of the roster.

“We’re not afraid to have tough conversations,” White said. “We have meaningful conversations about what we’re seeing on the court. I feel like he’s a super competitor and obviously I am, too, so we kind of correlate in that type of way.”

The first year of this partnership was defined by upheaval. Giddey’s arrival in Chicago meant that White was moved out of the starting point guard role he had spent the previous season fighting to secure and defend. For the first two-thirds of the season, the pair struggled to strike a balance between facilitating each other and feeding star guard Zach LaVine.

Still, plenty of that change was positive. Giddey brings a flair to his facilitation as a point guard — which meant White had to keep his head on a swivel for an unexpected pass.

“Sometimes I don’t think I’m open, but he passes it and I’m actually open,” White said with a laugh.

And the final stretch of the 2024-25 season showed how the pair can balance each other out on the court, taking turns attacking the rim and launching shots from behind the arc.

Experience is now the key for White and Giddey in their first full season as the centerpieces of the offense. They shared a total of 1,262 minutes on the court last season — the fourth-highest volume of any pairing on the roster.

The Bulls averaged a minus-1.5 net rating with Giddey and White on the court together, which echoed the team’s overall net rating on the season. But that rating ticked upward after the All-Star break, when the duo finally began to click after LaVine was traded to the Sacramento Kings.

Coach Billy Donovan credited both players for making an extra effort to shoulder their newfound responsibilities in the wake of LaVine’s departure.

“I know they always had a really good relationship off the court,” Donovan said. “But on the court, their constant communication, talking to one another, I thought that was really, really positive and helpful.”

The Bulls expect less change this season. Giddey will shoulder the point guard responsibilities for the Bulls over the next four seasons, which will move White into the 2-guard position. And White has embraced his evolving role as a combo guard, spending the offseason focused on improving his off-ball skills and honing his 3-point shot.

Donovan emphasized that White’s shift away from starting point guard doesn’t reflect a reduction in playmaking responsibilities. But the offense requires White to find more ways to be creative without the ball in his hands — running to the corner, breaking out in transition, relocating to locate 3-point opportunities.

This is tiring work — and the type that might not pay off on the majority of plays. But the Bulls need this heightened activity from White to maintain the pace of their offense.

“It’s not necessarily about, ‘Hey, let’s move him off the ball’ as much as when he’s off the ball, he’s got to generate and create opportunities for himself without playcalling,” Donovan said. “It’s not to say we don’t want Coby with the ball in his hands — I definitely do — but there’s other ways for him to inject himself into the game when the ball’s not in his hands.”

White and Giddey are eager to begin their first season with the keys to the Bulls offense. They spent most of the summer trying to wash away the sour aftertaste of a blowout loss in the play-in tournament, a game that highlighted all of the cracks in the roster. And both guards are aware of the urgency with which they will have to approach their defense.

Now, it’s up to both to prove this foundation is sturdy enough to build upon.