Zach LaVine and Bulls have been unable to reach a contract extension agreement this offseason. He said it won’t affect his performance or mindset heading into the season, Brian Windhorst of ESPN writes.
“What I can control is what I do on the court. That’s what I do best, I take care of business,” he said. “I’ll come into camp ready to be a good teammate and be a better leader every day and help my team win. I think that shows my value and I’ll let my business part speak for itself when the time comes.”
LaVine, who will make $19.5MM this season, could be the top unrestricted free agent on the market next summer unless he works something out with his current club. Given that the Bulls can’t offer more than about $105MM over four years on an extension, an in-season deal appears very unlikely.
We have more from the Central Division:
- Grayson Allen and Donte DiVincenzo are eligible for rookie scale extensions prior to the start of the season. Bucks GM Jon Horst is hopeful of reaching agreements with both but it’s not necessarily a high priority to get them locked up, he told Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “I don’t think it’s essential that we figure out how to extend them,” he said. “I think it’s a priority to have the discussions, see if there’s any kind of meeting of the minds or any way that we can land a deal with one or both those guys. They’re guys that we value and we like, but if not, they’re both restricted.”
- Oddsmakers have projected the Cavaliers to lose more games than any other Eastern Conference team except Orlando. That doesn’t stop Cleveland guard Darius Garland from setting his sights on the postseason, Michael Scotto of Hoops Hype writes. “Our expectations are to make the playoffs,” he said. “The league is very balanced this year, so it’s going to be tough, but I think we’ve got the guys and the mindset to do it.”
- Figuring out what to do with their top free agent acquisition, Kelly Olynyk, will be one of the main storylines in Pistons training camp, Keith Langlois of the team’s website writes. They’ll have to decide whether to start Olynyk or use him as Isaiah Stewart‘s backup. They’ll also have to decide whether to use to him at power forward at times alongside Stewart. Detroit targeted Olynyk due his ability to stretch the floor. He signed a three-year, $37MM contract in August.
- The Pistons are fully vaccinated, Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports tweets.
Bucks salary 2022-23 at the moment
$158 million
Tax line $145 million
After getting rid of Lopez, Every dollar on Allen and Divincenzo contracts is taxable
Lopez is now 33 years old.
If Bucks don’t expect to dump his salary next summer, they should trade Allen and DiVincenzo this season
Instead, Bucks have an option to pay $100 million luxury tax in a single season
Big salary pay-cut is always the best option for any great team
I wonder how many other teams besides Detroit are fully vaccinated.
Knicks are. Warriors are besides Wiggins. Nets are besides Kyrie.
Anyone playing for each of those three teams really has to be.
Whereas players for the other 27 teams can get away with it for most of the season except when their team goes on the road to SF or NY.
Don’t even know what that means ???? There’s a pandemic that’s killed more people than the last worse pandemic. And we have a vaccine. And you will be in a closed arena with 18-20 thousand people.
Visiting team players aren’t required to be vaccinated.
In SF and NY arenas everyone is required to be vaccinated.
Lavine’s comments (as relayed in HR) have always been overly self-obsessed and they have gotten worse. Lavine should just stop with his leadership game… except Thaddeus Young is gone and new guys will be everywhere.
How will Derozan approach leadership?
You just sound like a hater, frankly. His comments are fairly boilerplate for someone in his position.
Why would anyone want to intentionally listen to boilerplate, especially one so artificial and threatening. That he speaks in boilerplate is part of the problem about being a leader. He has never been one and it is easy to read why, given the quotes we have to work with. He’s a fraud. That would be fine, many people are frauds, but he apparently insists upon getting leader cred, so there will be a fight if anyone wants to truly lead. Hear how he says he wants to win, like nobody else wants that too. If that doesn’t piss you off. Yes I hate it.
If Derozan has power-forward years left, he may last 5 years more as a prime player. Bulls could switch gears here.
The Bulls have made all these moves to keep LaVine. IMO Lonzo is the one who can really upgrade this team . He plays like Magic believed he could. When he drafted him. Bulls will be top 6 in East, and a tough out.
Zach LaVine is going to cost the max. The bulls are trying to be cheap and talk extensions with him but if it’s not the max they are offering Zach should just continue to not sign.
Come the end of the season if they still haven’t offered it to you, he will hit FA and multiple teams will offer him the max and Chicago will have to decide to match or not.
I’ll keep saying it: not mentioning that LaVine can potentially make substantially more money signing a new contract next year than any extension is a bit disingenuous.
If LaVine makes an All-NBA team, which, if the Bulls make the playoffs due to LaVine playing really well, he has a chance at, LaVine can qualify for the full supermax of 5 years $235 mil. The most the Bulls could offer him on an extension is 5 years ~$200 million.
Rich Paul clients almost always bet on themselves. A chance at an increase of 17%+ ($35 mil) is something he was always going to go for. He just wanted the offer to show he was “worth” it, turn it down, and bet on himself.
The Bulls always knew that but making that the full extension offer just for him to turn it down would have meant wasting time being able to work out deals with free agents. Not acknowledging this reality makes it seem like the Bulls don’t know the game and are risking LaVine walking by not locking him up.
I think he doesn’t deserve supermax. Henisba very good player but not a star. I mean you burn a lot of your cap in the wrong way giving him supermax…
Has Ayo D.Been traded he’s not listed on the 17 man roster haven’t heard from him since his 2 year contract . ?
ZLV is not meant to be the leader of this team, he is the 3rd best player behind Vuc & DMDR, so his leadership ain’t particularly needed at this point, right?