As expected, the Bulls have officially matched the offer sheet the Kings presented to Zach LaVine, the team announced on Twitter.
The contract, which is fully guaranteed with no options, will pay LaVine $78MM over the next four years. It also includes financial protections for the Bulls in case LaVine experiences further problems with his surgically repaired left knee. Under NBA rules, the Bulls cannot trade LaVine without his consent or send him to the Kings under any circumstances for an entire year, tweets salary cap expert Albert Nahmad.
“We were excited last summer when we got a dynamic athlete in Zach LaVine through the trade,” said Bulls executive John Paxson, “and we’re excited now that we get to keep him.” (Twitter link from K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune.)
LaVine was the centerpiece of a deal that sent Jimmy Butler to the Timberwolves on the night of the 2017 draft. Chicago was willing to gamble on LaVine even though he was coming off a torn ACL. He sat out the first half of his first season with the Bulls, then averaged 16.7 PPG in 24 games after recovering.
Terrible!
That Julyan Stone-Zach Lavine combo is lethal lol
LEMMINGS
As much as I don’t love LaVine, the Bulls need a year or 2 more in this rebuild, so money isn’t necessarily a priority since attracting free agents isn’t on the agenda yet.
The ceiling on LaVine is high and although it’s defintiely an overpay, might be worthwhile to see the development through.
Exactly, I have no problem with it. About 3-4 mil a year over what they’d hope to spend, but I get it. There was definitely gonna be a team that stepped up from him after he proved he was fully recovered. I like the insurance the Bulls got as well, Incase something does happen with the knee. A key piece to their rebuild.
Actually, as reported, only 2 mil annually more than the Bulls had already offered.
Bulls released Julyan Stone at 10 pm last night.-Sporting News. Said if they released Nwaba and Noel Vonleh, they would have $15MM in cap space.-ESPN 30 moves
This decision was made back when they traded for him. Why trade for the guy when he’s hurt, and you know you’ll likely only get to see him for a few months before needing to make this kind of call on him, if you’re not prepared to match almost anything? The only other thing they could have done was get out ahead of it and offer to truly overpay (max) for say 2 years and then a team option. Surprised the Kings felt such a small difference btw the Bulls offer and their offer sheet would matter much.
Agreed.
BTW… SMH