Chicago Bulls Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Bulls Sign Second-Round Pick Julian Phillips

July 12th, 2023 at 2:47pm CST by Luke Adams

The Bulls have officially signed second-round pick Julian Phillips to his first NBA contract, the team announced today (via Twitter).

There’s no word yet on the terms of Phillips’ deal, but players drafted as high as he was (No. 35) typically sign standard contracts, and the Bulls’ announcement doesn’t say anything about it being a two-way pact. I imagine the club used the new second-round pick exception to sign him to a three- or four-year contract that includes at least one or two guaranteed seasons.

[RELATED: 2023 NBA Draft Pick Signings]

A 6’8″ forward, Phillips spent just one year in college before declaring for the draft as an early entrant. As a freshman at Tennessee in 2022/23, he averaged 8.3 points, 4.7 points, and 1.4 assists in 24.1 minutes per contest (32 games), earning SEC All-Freshman honors.

Phillips ‘ shot needs work (he made just 11-of-46 three-pointers at Tennessee), but he possesses intriguing length and athleticism.

Assuming Phillips signed a standard contract, the Bulls will have 13 players on their 15-man roster once Torrey Craig officially completes his reported deal with the team. That roster count includes Carlik Jones‘ non-guaranteed contract, but doesn’t include Ayo Dosunmu, who is still a restricted free agent.

More Contract Details: White, Lyles, A. Holiday, Draymond, D-Lo, More

July 11th, 2023 at 7:24am CST by Luke Adams

Coby White‘s new contract with the Bulls and Trey Lyles‘ new contract with the Kings both include unlikely incentives that could increase the value of those deals, Hoops Rumors has learned.

White’s three-year pact is guaranteed to be worth at least $36MM and has $1.3MM in annual incentives that could push the guard’s earnings up to $40MM in total. As for Lyles, he’ll make $8MM guaranteed salaries in each season of his two-year deal with Sacramento and could earn another $1.2MM in bonuses, which would increase the overall value of the contract to $18.4MM ($9.2MM per year).

Here are a few more details worth noting on several recently signed contracts:

Aaron Holiday‘s one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Rockets is only partially guaranteed. Holiday is assured of about $1.05MM and would receive his full $2.35MM salary if he remains under contract through at least January 7.
Draymond Green‘s four-year, $100MM contract with the Warriors includes a 15% trade kicker, while Jevon Carter‘s three-year, $19.5MM deal with the Bulls has a third-year player option.
Only the first season of Julian Champagnie‘s new four-year, $12MM contract with the Spurs is guaranteed. For each of the following three years, he’ll have to remain under contract beyond August 1 to guarantee his salary for that season.
A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year deal (or a two-year deal with a second-year option) has the right to veto a trade, since he’d lose his Bird (or Early Bird) rights if he’s dealt. However, the new Collective Bargaining Agreement allows a player to waive that right to veto a trade when he signs that sort of contract, and Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell became the first player to do so, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link). Alex Len also waived his right to veto a trade as part of his new one-year deal with the Kings, Hoops Rumors has learned.

Bulls Sign Adama Sanogo To Two-Way Deal

July 10th, 2023 at 8:13pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

JULY 10: The signing is official, the team’s PR department tweets.

JUNE 23: The Bulls are set to sign undrafted Connecticut center Adama Sanogo to a two-way contract, sources inform Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Sanogo, whose Huskies won the NCAA title this year, had been projected to be the last pick in the draft, No. 58, in ESPN’s final mock draft prior to tonight. In 39 games for Connecticut during 2022/23, the 6’9″ junior logged 17.2 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.8 BPG and 0.7 SPG. That block tally is actually his lowest ever in college. He boasts a career average of 1.2 BPG over the course of his three NCAA seasons. He also boasted solid shooting splits of .606/.365/.766.

Chicago was compelled to forfeit its own 2023 second round selection by the league as a penalty for tampering to sign point guard Lonzo Ball in free agency. Ball has played a total of 35 games in two years for the club.

The 21-year-old Sanogo was named the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player for his efforts in the tourney this spring, in addition to qualifying for the NCAA All-Tourney Team. He was also a two-time All-Big East First Teamer during his collegiate stint.

Sanogo has a 7’3″ wingspan and is a hyper-efficient scorer near the basket, but questions linger about his height and defensive ability at the next level.

Terry Shows Growth In Summer League Opener

July 9th, 2023 at 8:53pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Dalen Terry, the No. 18 pick of the 2022 draft, blanketed Toronto rookie Gradey Dick during the Bulls’ Summer League opener on Friday. It’s exactly the type of growth Chicago’s staff wants to see from Terry, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic writes. “I love that type of energy and effort and accountability to want to be great defensively,” Summer League coach John Bryant said. “Let’s see how it continues. I think he’s a great defender. I think he has the ability to be a great, consistent defender.”

NBA Reveals Dates, Groups For In-Season Tournament

July 8th, 2023 at 7:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

The NBA has announced the five-team groups that will used for the league’s first-ever in-season tournament, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. The unveiling took place Saturday during a special episode of ESPN’s “NBA Today” held at “NBA Con” in Las Vegas.

The groups were determined in a draw similar to what is used in soccer’s World Cup. There are six groups — three each from the Eastern Conference and Western Conference — and each conference was split into five pots based on last season’s standings. One team was randomly selected from each of the pots to determine the opening-round matchups.

The results are:

Group 1: Sixers, Cavaliers, Hawks, Pacers and Pistons.
Group 2: Bucks, Knicks, Heat, Wizards and Hornets.
Group 3: Celtics, Nets, Raptors, Bulls and Magic.
Group 4: Grizzlies, Suns, Lakers, Jazz and Trail Blazers.
Group 5: Nuggets, Clippers, Pelicans, Mavericks and Rockets.
Group 6: Kings, Warriors, Timberwolves, Thunder and Spurs.

The tournament will start with group play, which will match each team with the other four in its grouping. Those games will take place on Nov. 3, 10, 14, 17, 21, 24 and 28.

The winner of each group will advance to a knockout round, joined by the team with the best record in each conference among those who didn’t win a group. Quarterfinal games will be played Dec. 4 and 5, hosted by the higher-seeded teams. The four winners in that round will move on to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for the Dec. 7 semifinals and the Dec. 9 championship game.

Bontemps points out that all teams will play within their conference until the last game, which guarantees an East vs. West matchup, just like the NBA Finals.

“Everybody’s not going to buy in right away,” admitted Joe Dumars, the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball operations. “So that can’t be the goal that everybody’s going to buy in from day one. These things take time. And I think, as time goes on, I think you can build this up and people can really get into it.”

The championship trophy will be called the NBA Cup, and players will receive $500K each for winning it. Other prize money includes $200K for second place, $100K for losing in the semifinals and $50K for losing in the quarterfinals. The league opted not to provide other incentives, such as a guaranteed playoff spot, for the tournament winner.

We passed along more details on the in-season tournament right here.

Trade/FA Rumors: Lillard, LaVine, Sixers, Reed, Reaves, Spurs

July 7th, 2023 at 2:11pm CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers are believed to be seeking a package in the neighborhood of four first-round picks and two quality players in exchange for Damian Lillard, according to Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian, who spoke to Lillard’s agent Aaron Goodwin about the negotiations. Goodwin reiterated that he’s telling other teams that his client only wants to play for the Heat.

“It’s not fair to a team to allow them to engage in a negotiation that could be futile in the end,” Goodwin told Fentress.

While Lillard may be focused on the Heat, it would require the involvement of at least one more team for the Blazers to get a package anywhere near the level they’re looking for. Having traded its 2025 first-round pick to Oklahoma City, Miami can only currently offer two first-rounders.

As we wait to see if negotiations between Portland and Miami gather any momentum with teams convening at the Las Vegas Summer League, here are a few more trade and free agency rumors from around the NBA:

League sources tell K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago that Zach LaVine‘s name has come up in preliminary trade discussions with both the Sixers and Trail Blazers. Neither of those conversations gained traction, according to Johnson, who hears that the Bulls‘ asking price for LaVine has been “extremely high.” Still, Johnson says the team has “fluctuated in its belief in LaVine’s consistency as a lead option.”
Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com hears from sources familiar with the situation that the conversations between the Sixers and Bulls were really just “check-in” talks prior to the draft and didn’t evolve beyond that. So there’s no indication at this point that any multi-team deal involving LaVine and James Harden is on the way, Neubeck writes.
The Sixers‘ deals with centers Mohamed Bamba and Montrezl Harrell haven’t diminished their desire to retain restricted free agent Paul Reed, a team source tells Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia.
The Spurs legitimately considered the possibility of an offer sheet for restricted free agent guard Austin Reaves, ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on his Lowe Post podcast. The Lakers ultimately re-signed Reaves on a four-year, $54MM deal, which was the most that they could give him directly — another team could’ve tested Los Angeles’ resolve by making a four-year offer worth up to $102MM. “I know San Antonio was going back and forth on it and for whatever reason didn’t do it,” Lowe said.

Dosunmu's Status Must Be Resolved

July 6th, 2023 at 10:09pm CST by Dana Gauruder

After waiving Marko Simonovic, the Bulls still have some work to do, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago notes. They still must resolve Ayo Dosunmu‘s status after extending him a $5.2MM qualifying offer, making him a restricted free agent. The Bulls are perhaps trying to pursue a longer-term deal at a lower price, saving him as a potential sign-and-trade asset, or waiting to see if a suitor comes along with an offer sheet, Johnson writes.
Bulls forward Justin Lewis has been full participant in summer league camp, Johnson tweets. He’s on track to play in the Las Vegas Summer League after overcoming an ACL tear, which he suffered last August. The former Marquette star, who went undrafted last year, rehabbed the knee at Chicago’s facilities after getting waived, then re-signed with the Bulls on a two-year, two-way deal in March.

Bulls Waive Marko Simonovic

July 6th, 2023 at 4:16pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Bulls are waiving center Marko Simonovic, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. The move is official, per NBA.com’s transaction log.

The seven-foot Simonovic has only appeared in 16 games over the last two seasons, so the move didn’t come as a surprise.

The 2020 second-round pick signed a multi-year contract in 2021 but his $1,836,096 salary for next season wasn’t guaranteed. Chicago had until Friday to decide whether to give him that full amount, as shown in our list of early salary guarantee dates for 2023/24.

Simonovic played 25 games last season for the G League Windy City Bulls, including 23 starts. He averaged 15.9 points and 9.9 rebounds in 28.3 minutes per game.

Simonovic’s release leaves open a backup center spot behind Nikola Vucevic and Andre Drummond.

Fischer’s Latest: Bridges, Washington, Pelicans, Dosunmu, More

July 5th, 2023 at 9:21pm CST by Rory Maher

Prior to signing his $7.9MM qualifying offer, Miles Bridges was seeking around $25MM per year in talks with the Hornets, sources tell Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports. However, Charlotte was unwilling to approach that figure, which is why Bridges’ representatives quickly opted for unrestricted free agency in 2024.

Bridges was ineligible to be included in a sign-and-trade because he wasn’t on the team’s roster last season, having missed all of 2022/23 after facing a felony domestic violence charge. He agreed to a plea deal and was subsequently suspended by the NBA, who will require him to sit out the first 10 games of ’23/24.

Prior to that incident, Bridges was viewed as one of the top free agents of the 2022 class, having averaged 20.2 PPG, 7.0 RPG, and 3.8 APG on 49.1% shooting in 80 games (35.5 MPG) in ’21/22. There was talk of him receiving $30MM annually in an offer sheet last year, according to Fischer, with the Pacers, Pistons and Grizzlies all linked to the 25-year-old forward.

Here’s more from Fischer’s latest story for Yahoo Sports:

Hornets restricted free agent forward P.J. Washington might have to wait a while in order to find the type of contract he’s seeking, and it might have to come via sign-and-trade. Marc Stein first reported that the former first-round pick is seeking around $18MM annually. According to Fischer, Washington is looking for $80MM over four years. Fischer writes that several agents seem to be pointing to Keldon Johnson‘s rookie scale extension with the Spurs as a benchmark of sorts in negotiations.
The Pelicans continue to gauge the trade market for reserve guard Kira Lewis Jr. and starting center Jonas Valanciunas, sources tell Fischer. Lewis is entering the final year of his rookie scale contract and could become a restricted free agent next summer, while Valanciunas’ $15.4MM deal is expiring.
Fischer hears the recent conversations between the Hawks and Raptors haven’t been very productive when it comes to a potential Pascal Siakam deal. On an unrelated note, Fischer also reports there’s optimism within Atlanta’s organization that the team will be able to extend Dejounte Murray.
The Raptors have expressed interest in Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu, Fischer reports. However, it’s unclear if they’ll try to make a run at the restricted free agent via an offer sheet or sign-and-trade.
Like other reporters, Fischer has heard there’s mutual interest in a reunion between the Sixers and restricted free agent big man Paul Reed.

Washington, Williams, Thybulle Among RFAs Still Available

July 4th, 2023 at 1:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Of the eight free players on our list of top 50 free agents who have yet to reach new deals, five are restricted free agents. Those five restricted free agents are also the only ones still available at all (not including those coming off on two-way deals). Those players are as follows:

P.J. Washington (Hornets)
Grant Williams (Celtics)
Matisse Thybulle (Trail Blazers)
Ayo Dosunmu (Bulls)
Paul Reed (Sixers)

While I’m sure these five players would’ve preferred to agree to lucrative new contracts in the opening hours of free agency, it’s not necessarily an ominous sign that they’ve yet to line up new deals four days later. It can sometimes take a little longer for the market for restricted free agents to develop, but it doesn’t mean they won’t get paid.

A year ago, for instance, Deandre Ayton didn’t sign his maximum-salary offer sheet with the Pacers (which was quickly matched by the Suns) until July 14, two weeks after the start of free agency. Collin Sexton, who received a four-year, $71MM in a sign-and-trade deal that sent him to Utah as part of the Donovan Mitchell blockbuster, didn’t resolve his restricted free agency until September.

The same thing happens with a few restricted free agents just about every year. In 2021, RFAs like Josh Hart (three years, $38MM) and Lauri Markkanen (four years, $67MM) took multiple weeks to reach new contract agreements.

In other words, there’s still plenty of time for Washington, Williams, Thybulle, Dosunmu, and Reed to find deals they like.

Washington, Williams, and Thybulle, in particular, seem like good bets to cash in sooner or later. A report over the weekend indicated that Washington was drawing interest from multiple teams besides the Hornets. Williams has reportedly received interest from Charlotte and Dallas, with the Mavericks also said to be keeping an eye on Thybulle.

It would be a surprise if any of them had to settle for a below-market deal. It sounds like teams are still in the process of figuring out if an offer sheet will be an exercise in futility or if there’s a legitimate chance to pry away one of those players from his current club — and if so, what the price point would be.

There hasn’t been as much chatter about Dosunmu or Reed, but there haven’t been any red flags on either front. Their qualifying offers ($5.2MM for Dosunmu; $2.3MM for Reed) remain in place as one-year fallback options.

The Spurs are the one team that still has enough cap room to make a strong play for any of those top RFAs, if they so choose. The Rockets may also be able to offer more than the full mid-level, depending on how all their moves shake out, and teams below the tax apron are free to try to negotiate sign-and-trades.

It has become pretty rare for restricted free agents to change teams via offer sheets, but sign-and-trade deals aren’t uncommon — they get the player to his preferred landing spot while ensuring that his old team picks up an asset or two.

There are still several unrestricted free agents whose landing spots will be worth watching too, including Christian Wood, Kelly Oubre, Hamidou Diallo, Jaylen Nowell, and Dario Saric. But at this point in free agency, it’s the RFA market that looks more intriguing.