Free agent forward Patrick Williams will re-sign with the Bulls for $90MM over five years, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The fifth season will be a player option, tweets Jamal Collier of ESPN.
Williams, 22, was expected to be a cornerstone of the franchise when Chicago selected him with the fourth pick in the 2020 draft. He hasn’t lived up to that billing due to injuries and inconsistent play, but executive Arturas Karnisovas decided to make keeping him a priority as part of his effort to build a younger and more athletic roster.
Williams received a $12.97MM qualifying offer this week, making him a restricted free agent. That means the Bulls could have matched any offer he received, but they opted to bypass that possibility by negotiating a new deal before free agency begins Sunday evening.
A stress reaction in Williams’ left foot cut short his season and forced him to undergo surgery in February. He averaged 10.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 43 games, but he wasn’t able to play after January 25.
A report this week indicated that the Bulls were optimistic about their chances of working out a new contract with Williams. The Thunder were believed to be among the teams that had interest in pursuing him.
Williams will get a healthy raise after earning $9.8MM this season in the final year of his rookie contract. When he and the Bulls discussed a possible rookie scale extension last fall, the forward turned down a four-year, $64MM offer and was believed to be seeking something closer to De’Andre Hunter’s contract (four years, $90MM), per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. This new deal represents a compromise for the two sides.
The agreement with Williams leaves Chicago with three remaining standard free agents, with DeMar DeRozan the most prominent name on the list. There has been increased speculation that DeRozan could be headed elsewhere, either leaving as a free agent or being involved in a sign-and-trade deal. Andre Drummond and Javonte Green are also unrestricted free agents.
Nice, now use him correctly as a 3 for God’s sake!!!
Giddy
White
Williams
Buzelis
Vucevic
Dosunmu, Phillips, Bitim, Craig, and a couple pieces helping revamp their bench from a LaVine trade could do this team alot of good.
That’s condemning Buzelis to getting beat on and fail the same as Williams and Markannen before him. The best thing the Bulls can do is play a system where Giddey at 1 and Buzelis at 3 cause match up nightmares all over the court with their size and ability to run the floor. Will Donovan figure that out? Absolutely not. He’s still trying to make players play HIS style instead of figuring out ways to maximize what he has. To put it another way, He’s a bad coach. The happiest guy in the country right now is Alex Caruso who now won’t have to get beat up anymore. The unhappiest guy is about to be Buzelis because he’s about to take his place.
Lauri was playimg at 4 and doing very well before Jim Boylen, Jim Boylen ruined him not the Bulls playing him at the 4. Also Patrick Williams is 6’7, Matas Buzelis is 6’10. If you are 6’10 and cant play as 4 then you suck, sorry. PatWill clearly is not a 4 and doestn have that size, while Buzelis does.
So being tall is all you have to be to be a 4? Huh well Toni Kukoc was 6’10”. Was he a PF? Buzelis runs like a deer, Can pass the rock and shoot if need be. He’s way better suited to be a 3 than a 4. The only way to make him a 4 is to put pounds on him and risk him losing what makes him good. Speed and agility. My advice to you is stop trying to make people things that they aren’t aqnd use them at what they’re good at. Being tall means absolutely nothing. It’s the NBA, 98% of the league is tall. So freakin what?
Lol as if the Bulls are letting Derozan go away (they should but we all know they will keep him)
Really …….. imo he’s an OG type player.
His offense will come along.
$18M a year for 5 years of an injury prone mid, cool Bulls move
Injury prone and also not that good. This is a massive overpay, but bulls gonna bulls.
I just don’t get it. They’re willing to let basically their best player go, but are willing to commit to a guy who has shown absolutely no consistency at all?
One is almost 35, the other is 23.
They have to try and get some value out of a seemingly wasted draft pick. They had to re-sign him to be able to trade him at some point. We’ve all seen he’s not a 4. So if you’re going to sell him as anything you have to make him a 3. But you’ve drafted a perfect weapon at 3 in Buzelis so now you can break him in slowly. The absolute dumbest thing they can do would be to try to make Buzelis a 4 and he would go down in flames the way Markannen and Williams did. Donovan has no clue how to coach the PLAYERS he has and maximize their abilities. He tries to make PLAYERS who don’t fit his style, Play his style anyway. So what you’re going to get is the same old same old. Anyway you have to now let DDR walk and try to trade LaVine before he gets hurt again so it better be fast. So Rondon what we have here is a failure to communicate, AGAIN. What really baffles me is their unwillingness to either draft, Trade for or sign a PF and instead try to play guys there who get beat up and give Vujevic absolutely zero help on the boards. One of the great mysteries of the NBA. Maybe they can get a PF back in a LaVine deal.
@afsooner02 yes, that’s what @Davey meant when he said Williams was mid.
I have to agree, seems like an overpay with how he has played. I guess they are still banking on potential ♂️
3/4 of the league is injury prone David according to the criteria you use. Nobody would get paid according to the criteria you use David. Why have a nba .
@The King Buddhas Stepson
I am muting you. You aren’t even posting in sentences. Please do not reply to my comments. Please get help. Thanks.
I want to go blind of glaucoma so I don’t need to see Patrick Williams play for my team another five years.
Other than injuries, if he’s used correctly, Patrick Williams is a very good player.
He’s not a traditional PF, and they’ve been wasting his talent playing him as one. He is a very promising 3 and D wing that can occasionally play the 4 and guard multiple positions.
There’s a reason there was so much immediate interest in Williams and has been the past couple years trying to get him from the Bulls.
Define good? He was drafted at 4. You have to shoot the ball to be an offensive threat. This I a “save face” signing by AK for a catastrophic draft bust, especially with who went later to Sacramento and now plays for Indians.
“catastrophic draft bust” is such a dramatic description.
He is a draft bust though a 100% offered 0 value through his rookie deal
Who cares where he was drafted at this point? If any GM was stupid enough to factor that in they should be fired on the spot.
Also, if he HAD developed into an offensive threat, this contract would for double the cost.
Hindsight is 20/20.
Agreed. If DeRozan isn’t on the team, then the Bulls can give Williams the touches that DeRozan was getting. Williams has shown a lot of talent and athleticism at times. When healthy Williams has been in an impossible situation when on the floor with DeRozan, LaVine, Vucevic and White. Williams was relegated to the fourth or fifth option on offense. Only one basketball.
in 2021, Duncan Robinson Signs With Heat on 5-Year, $90M Contract
The Bulls are just out here doing Bulls things
Now the bulls gotta drop lavine and let derozan walk and ill be ok with the roster
You’re ok with a horrific roster?
Ok with a rebuild around youth, not a continuation of mediocrity, which is keeping Derozan and LaVine.
Don’t forget Vucevic. The Bulls really love conning themselves into believing they need these guys. Vuc clearly phones it in almost every night and gets paid handsomely for it, so they resigned him of course… I guess to ease the fans ‘fears’ that they need ‘top name’ players that were good once. This team was destined for a rebuild a few years ago, get rid of the guys you pay a ton for but really are not helping you, but AK cannot do that, he has to save face to make him look good for ‘The Chairman JR’.
Time flies. Everyone is signed very quickly.
If 76ers or Magic don’t sign George right away, they are going to end up with empty bags.
Clippers want to hold the meeting with George before all is done. . ………….. Some GMs could turn out to be “crazy insane”.
Funny you use the phrase “crazy insane.”
Do bots know why that’s funny?
I must have missed the part where the article talked about Paul George. Come on. Keep it on topic.
When the cap rises, 18 mil a year won’t look quite as bad.
That being said, I can’t remember a player showing so little in their first four years and still netting a near 100 million dollar contract.
Did the bulls even try to negotiate? Kudos to Pat Williams’ agent.
Probably a bit of an overpay …. but AK would know Williams the best.
Today’s biggest rumors
Lakers plan to use MLE to sign James Harden
6M per year overpay. They’ll get 5/60 worth of value out of him.. I don’t see him ever being consistently healthy or consistent on the court. But he’ll have 5 years and 90M worth of opportunities.
Giddy on deck for 5/125
A little more expensive on an annual basis than he’s worth but with five years of control, if he does eventually take a step forward on offense this should look like a bargain. Or maybe he ends up being satisfied by the money and makes zero progress. Guess we’ll see.
Too bad the Bulls were stupid enough to keep Donovan. That should’ve been step one of this rebuild, or whatever you want to call it. Little is going to change until he’s shown the door.
I think they could have let him test the market. Doubt any team would have offered him this.
That’s the thing, somebody always pays/overpays for those approaching-their-prime, even if it’s still mostly on potential.
I wonder how guys like PJ Brown, Tyson Chandler, Jamal Magloire, Zydrunas Ilgalsgus, etc etc feel about guys making 20x what they did for putting up half their stats lol
This has potential to be a hell of a bargain. Williams shoots 3’s well and is a great perimeter defender. If DeRozan and LaVine are out this moves him up to second or third option on offense. I’ve always though the biggest need for this kid is opportunity as he’s always deferred to DeRozan and LaVine. All the naysayers that say he’s had a disappointing career to date, well look no further than his teammate Coby White.
Also worth pointing our he’s missed quite a bit of time with injuries. Not fair to judge his entire time in the league as if he’s been healthy for most of it.
Exactly. Williams has always been relegated to being the fourth or fifth option on offense.
Hope that Bulls don’t resign DeRozan. DeRozan will be 35 years old in August. Hope the Bulls give Williams the slot that DeRozan has had.
Marvin Williams 2.0. Great height & physical tools , but will never live up to their draft position.
I believe this guy is part Cuban since he is always hurt! And typical of a Reinsdork team, they sign him for big money. This is another failing organization!!!!
Bulls should sign Achiuwa to play the 4. He’s easily a double double. With solid D.
I’d also bring in Wiseman.
link to statmuse.com
Bargain based on other deals in his class. A real two way, multi-position, guy. CHI’s disjointed team building may have depressed his market value. If they ever have buyer’s remorse on this, I hope they call the Knicks, although they have no room at the moment.