The Bulls will be investing in an unknown commodity by matching the Kings’ four-year, $78MM offer sheet for Zach LaVine, writes Nick Friedell of ESPN. Chicago’s most recent offer to LaVine was only about $2MM less per year than the deal with the Kings, so it’s not a great financial burden for the team to take on. The bigger question is what kind of player LaVine will be after an ACL tear limited him to a combined 71 games over the past two seasons.
The 23-year-old got into just 24 contests in his first season with Chicago and wasn’t particularly effective. LaVine averaged 16.7 points per game, but shot a career-low 38.3% from the floor and the Bulls were outscored by 7.2 PPG while he was on the court. Friedell states that LaVine hasn’t progressed beyond what he was when he entered the league, an athletic marvel who lacks efficiency on offense and consistency on defense.
The Bulls may also have to repair their relationship with LaVine, who said he felt more wanted by the Kings in free agency. The front office believes it has to match LaVine’s offer sheet so it won’t lose the centerpiece of the Jimmy Butler trade, Friedell adds, but it isn’t certain that it’s getting a player to build around for the next four seasons.
There’s more news out of Chicago:
- An escalating salary cap will make LaVine’s new contract look better in future years, notes K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Conflicting reports give LaVine a starting salary of either $18.1MM or $19.5MM, which would be either 17.8% or 19.1% of the salary cap, and that percentage will fall in future years as the cap continues to rise. Johnson also notes that the Kings did the Bulls a favor by putting substantial injury protection for themselves in the deal in case LaVine has more problems with his left knee. Chicago’s front office didn’t suggest that in its negotiations out of fear of angering LaVine and his representatives.
- Tonight’s decision to trade Jerian Grant was a sign of confidence in Cameron Payne as the backup point guard, Johnson adds in a separate story. The Bulls will save about $1MM in swapping Grant for Julyan Stone and another $1,656,092 by waiving Stone before his August 1 guarantee date. Injuries have limited Payne to just 36 games since being acquired from the Thunder at the 2017 trade deadline.
- The Bulls will create a $2.6MM trade exception in tonight’s deal, tweets salary cap specialist Albert Nahmad. The team can open as much as $29MM before officially matching LaVine’s offer sheet by waiving Paul Zipser and Sean Kilpatrick (Twitter link).
Bulls GM pays all that $ on an injury risk just to save face for the butler trade? Fire the nervous Nellie.
They said the deal has injury protection.
Lmao. Cameron Payne is complete trash…but he definitely helps another season of tanking for another high draft pick.
Now put in a nice $13MM bid for Rodney Hood and see if the Cavs match it. Denzell Valentine and Paul Zipser aren’t the answers at small forward, and Hood is the best remaining small forward out there. Find out if Gilbert is willing to go into the luxury tax with LeBron gone, and having a bad team.
Hood’s only any good offensively at the 2– it keeps him more alert. But he’s better defensively at the 3 due to slow-twitch. If Lue is smart enough, he will play Hood with Osman, who is fine playing the opposite.
Lavine has the 2 nailed down, limiting Hood, though I have heard the 1 mentioned for Lavine.
Gilbert will go higher than 13 though it is questionable if Hood is worth it. (The FO says they want to win in 18/19.) If they make Gilbert reach, maybe he goes after Nwaba in an inter-divisional FO fight. Thus suspecteth x%sure.
Gilbert may or may not go into the luxury tax. Nobody will judge Hood for when he was at Cleveland, he played poorly because of the system. They will judge him for what he did at Utah. I hope he ends up in Chicago, he’ll have a better shot at making it. If Chicago goes over $13, Cleveland is in the luxury tax. Hood would prefer Chicago to Cleveland.
Make that $13MM. He played well in Utah 31/2 years and walked into a mess in Cleveland. He’d have a better chance of turning around in Chicago than Cleveland after what he went through last season. Chicago would appreciate him. If Chicago offers the $13MM, we’ll find out if Gilbert intends to keep spending.
The Bulls have nothing at the 3 at present, so Hood could step right in.
But the Cavs have time and space for him now at the 2 where he has had the most success, and can get him integrated with a run-up.
Hood just needs Gilbert to tell Lue to bench Smith!– in case Lue did not catch the Lebron. news.
I thought you could only create trade exceptions if you were over the cap?
That’s true. Technically, the Bulls are still “over the cap” because they haven’t renounced the exceptions/cap holds necessary to go under. Once they actually want to use that cap room on something, that trade exception will disappear along with their others.
So if Lavine’s at $19.5 mill, that is about $10.5 mil alive his cap hold ($9 mil) so if they waive Stone and Kilpatrick, then they should have about $19 mill in cap room. I’d offer up to Jabari Parker a $16-17 mil per year offer for 3 years and see if the Bucks match it. I’d run with Dunn-Lavine-Parker-Markkanen, and Lopez and then next year the Bulls should have a max slot open with Lopez ($14.3 mil), Holiday ($4.5 mil), Payne ($3.2 mil) and Asik ($11.3 mil) coming off the books next year.
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I don’t think Lopez starts this year, they got WCJ the best big after Ayton & MBIII in the draft, if they don’t start him, why pick him?
Also who on earth would pay 13MM/year for Hood? You are delusional Mio/Swanson. He should be lucky to get 3/4MM. I wouldn’t have him in my team even for the minimum.
The Pacers paid Tyreke Evans $12MM. Hood averaged 14.5 ppg with Utah. He would be starting for the Bulls. Starters make that kind of money.