- With Lonzo Ball‘s availability for this season still up in the air, the Bulls should be trying to find a way to add a proven point guard to their roster, argues Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.
- The Bulls are not currently discussing a contract extension with center Nikola Vucevic, sources tell Fischer. He adds that Chicago never seriously considered renegotiating his deal. According to Fischer, the Bulls have been telling rival teams inquiring about trades that “they believe they can make the playoffs when healthy.” However, the latest report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski might damper that prospect.
Prior to the Bulls‘ matchup with New York on Wednesday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski provided a gloomy update on point guard Lonzo Ball‘s status for the 2022/23 season.
Ball, who has yet to play this season, continues to be hampered by left knee pain despite two surgeries to address the issue in the past year. The first surgery was to repair a torn meniscus in January, and the second was an arthroscopic debridement procedure in September, which involves removing foreign objects or damaged/dead tissue from a wound.
“There are no guarantees, I’m told, that he plays at all this season.” Wojnarowski said on NBA Countdown (video link). “He’s rehabbing that knee now, he’s still feeling some pain in it. I think the hope is, that perhaps by the All-Star break in mid-February, that they have a sense of whether Lonzo Ball is ready to come back and play for Chicago.
“A lot of that may depend on where are the Bulls in the standings. Right now they’re 11th, they’re out of the playoff picture. I think if they’re lingering around that area, there will be a real decision to be made about whether he plays at all.”
Wojnarowski added that the Bulls will be faced with a lot of difficult decisions ahead of the trade deadline if the team continues to struggle, but “there’s no expectation you’ll see him (Ball), at least perhaps, until around the All-Star break.”
The last official update on Ball’s status came at the end of November, when coach Billy Donovan said that the guard’s rehab process had been going “really slow.” He added that Ball, who last played in January, was “not even close” to running, jumping or cutting.
Prior to Ball’s second surgery, ESPN reported that he visited “multiple specialists” in an attempt to figure out what was causing the discomfort in his knee and to explore possible treatments. At the time, a source told ESPN that the knee was “structurally sound,” but Ball’s pain hadn’t subsided after a summer of rest and rehab.
Ball has dealt with injuries throughout his six-year career, but this is by far his longest absence. The former No. 2 overall pick had a promising start with the Bulls last season, averaging 12.3 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 5.1 APG, 1.8 SPG and 0.9 BPG while shooting 42.3% from three-point range and playing strong defense in 35 games (34.6 MPG).
The Warriors have an estimated worth of $7.56 billion, according to the sports business website Sportico, which put out its annual NBA franchise valuations this week. Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico, who formerly published the franchise valuations for Forbes, has the Warriors well ahead of the Knicks ($6.58 billion), Lakers ($6.44 billion), Bulls ($4.09 billion), and Celtics ($3.92 billion) on the site’s full list.
Those valuations for the Warriors, Knicks, and Lakers are all noticeably higher than the figures Forbes put out in October, while the numbers for the Bulls and Celtics fall slightly below Forbes’ estimates.
Sportico is a little more bullish on the value of NBA franchises on the whole, with an estimated average valuation of $3 billion per team. Forbes’ report had the estimated average worth of an NBA franchise at $2.86 billion.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Assuming Team USA qualifies for the 2023 World Cup, which is all but assured, the U.S. club will play all its games in Manila, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. The World Cup will be played in Japan and Indonesia in addition to the Philippines, but each host nation got to pick one team it wanted to have for its group stage games. The Philippines, which will also host the final phase of the tournament, chose Team USA. Japan picked Slovenia (led by Luka Doncic), while Indonesia selected Canada.
- Larry Kestelman, the owner of Australia’s National Basketball League, has interest in bringing an NBL team to the Las Vegas Summer League and says the NBA is open to the idea, according to Matt Logue and Michael Randall of the Herald Sun (subscription required). “We used to take teams to China, like an NBL All-Star-type set up,” Kestelman said. “We’ve discussed this with the NBA before and they were open to it, so we will continue those discussions.” The NBA has had some of its teams play exhibition games against NBL squads during the preseason in recent years.
- The NBA announced on Wednesday that the third season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) will tip off on March 11, 2023. As was the case in 2022, 12 top teams from 12 African countries will qualify to be part of the BAL season. Those teams will play a total of 38 games in Dakar, Senegal; Cairo, Egypt; and Kigali, Rwanda.
- Alex Caruso and Javonte Green were inserted into the Bulls‘ starting lineup in place of Ayo Dosunmu and Patrick Williams a couple of weeks ago. That lineup only lasted one game before minor injuries to Caruso and Green led to more adjustments. Caruso and Green could be back in the lineup again when the Bulls host the Knicks on Wednesday, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
- Bulls rookie Dalen Terry isn’t ready to be a rotation piece, coach Billy Donovan told Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. Terry has spent a majority of the last two months with the G League Windy City Bulls. “If you’re throwing him in the rotation you’re having to sit somebody else,” Donovan said of the 18th overall pick. “And right now, clearly, I don’t think he’s at the level of some of our guys. “
Rival teams are monitoring the Bulls on the NBA’s trade market, a source tells Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report.
There’s speculation that Chicago, which is sitting outside the Eastern Conference play-in race at 11-15, could dismantle its current roster in hopes of landing a high draft pick, Pincus explains. The team owes this year’s first-rounder to the Magic as part of the Nikola Vucevic trade unless it lands a top-four pick in the lottery. Pincus notes that there are five teams with eight wins or fewer, so if the Bulls plan to pursue that strategy they need to start soon.
“Everyone is watching Chicago very closely,” an NBA source told Pincus. “They’re so poorly constructed, they need to blow it up.”
Pincus cites a recent rumor that the Lakers might be willing to part with their first-round picks in 2027 and 2029, along with Russell Westbrook as a buyout candidate, in exchange for Vucevic and DeMar DeRozan. That move would put the Bulls in position to tank and would give the franchise two valuable draft assets for the future.
Pincus sees that as a better route than losing this year’s first-rounder to Orlando and trying to re-sign Vucevic when he becomes a free agent next summer. That would leave Chicago with just its mid-level exception, plus smaller trades, to try to upgrade the roster.
Zach LaVine could also be a trade candidate once he becomes eligible on January 15, Pincus adds. There hasn’t been much talk about LaVine yet in trade circles, but Pincus believes the Bulls would find plenty of interest if they make him available. LaVine signed a five-year, $215MM contract in July.
Bulls guard Zach LaVine may test his surgically repaired left knee Sunday by playing in consecutive games, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. LaVine has sat out four games this season, with three of them coming on the first night of back-to-backs. He only logged 26 minutes in Saturday’s rout of the Mavericks, so there’s a chance he’ll be ready for today’s game at Atlanta.
“A lot of this will depend on how he feels coming out of this game, the flight, Sunday morning,” coach Billy Donovan said after Saturday’s win. “… Certainly it’s on the table for him to play. I think as I mentioned, he wants to play. That’s always his mentality. We’ll get feedback from him, the medical guys, and then go from there.’’
Cowley notes that the team has another back-to-back coming up next week as part of a stretch with four games in six days, so more last-minute decisions on LaVine will lie ahead. LaVine has been on a hot streak lately, averaging close to 30 PPG over his last three games, and may want to keep playing to avoid disrupting his rhythm.
There’s more from Chicago:
- Alex Caruso didn’t return Saturday after suffering a lower back bruise in the first quarter, Cowley adds. Caruso recently moved into the starting lineup, but the coaching staff is still trying to limit his playing time to reduce the chance of injury because of his aggressive style. “We’re trying to get him off [the floor] a little bit earlier and be conscientious of his minutes and what it looks like at the end of the game,’’ Donovan said. “But I think he’s done a nice job with that [starting] group.’’
- Andre Drummond has the league’s best rebounding rate per 36 minutes, but his playing time has declined as Donovan tinkers with his rotation, Cowley notes in a separate story. Drummond, who signed with Chicago in free agency over the summer and is with his sixth team in the past three years, is being patient with the situation. “My job is to do whatever it takes to help this team win, whether it’s playing 15 or playing 30 minutes,” he said. “I said this before, earlier in the year — anyone who knows basketball and has seen me play knows what I’m capable of doing in 30-plus minutes. But that’s not what this team is asking of me. It’s to come off the bench, be a spark any way I can and try and help them win games. That’s what I have to accept.’’
- Ayo Dosunmu talked to NBC Sports Chicago about how he’s adjusting after being moved back to the second unit (video link).
- The Bulls have no interest in acquiring Russell Westbrook from the Lakers, even if it means adding multiple draft picks, a source tells Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. While Cowley doesn’t explicitly say so, this report appears to be a response to the rumor about the Lakers internally discussing whether Chicago might become open to the idea of moving DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic for Westbrook and draft assets. Cowley acknowledges that the Bulls’ thinking could change before the February trade deadline, but says the focus for now is getting Lonzo Ball back and pushing for a playoff spot.
Bulls power forward Patrick Williams has been re-enlisted as a starter with Javonte Green now hurt, though he’ll likely be demoted again when Green returns, writes Annie Costabile of The Chicago Sun-Times.
“We’ll probably put [Green] back in the starting lineup [when he’s healthy] to see what that looks like,” Chicago head coach Billy Donovan said. Even though Williams will be returning to the bench soon, teammates have noticed that he appears to be growing more assertive and confident of late.
“I made a joke one day, if he gets a tech in a game, I’ll pay for his tech… because he doesn’t make any expressions,” All-Star Chicago small forward DeMar DeRozan said, hoping to inspire some more on-court aggression from the 2020 No. 4 draft pick out of FSU.
There’s more out of Chicago:
- At 10-14 on the season, the Bulls seem to be in a bit of a no man’s land when it comes to their short- and long-term futures, opines Bobby Marks of ESPN. After a successful roster overhaul in 2021 led to a fast start, major injuries to Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, and Zach LaVine sank the Bulls in the Eastern Conference standings. The team lost 15 of their final 22 games during the 2021/22 season. Marks notes that, with the Bulls now low on assets after offloading several picks in that eventful 2021 summer, they’re closer to the bottom of the East than the top, and may have more luck trading their best players to get worse than they would trading their limited future draft picks to get better.
- The Bulls’ Big Three of LaVine, DeRozan, and center Nikola Vucevic all scored 25 or more points to help Chicago close out the Wizards yesterday. This collective success represents exactly what head coach Donovan hoped for when he issued a challenge to the team’s three top scorers last month to mount a simultaneous combined effort, writes K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “We’re definitely capable,” DeRozan said. “There will be games where other guys come up big for us and take the weight off us having to score. It will vary. As long as we stay aggressive and compete our butt off, I think we’ll be fine.”
- Caruso, recently elevated to the Bulls’ starting lineup ahead of second-year guard Ayo Dosunmu, has earned rave reviews from his coaches and colleagues, Johnson writes in another piece. “He changes the whole game,” DeRozan said. “AC could have four points. But take him out of the game and the game is completely different… He’s a helluva competitor and a helluva person. It’s hard to find teammates like that. The appreciation he has for the game is such a contagious thing. When you’re around him, you feel that joy.”
As Miles McBride has taken Derrick Rose‘s spot in the Knicks‘ rotation, he has received plenty of advice from the veteran guard, writes Steve Popper of Newsday. McBride logged 16 minutes in Sunday’s win over the Cavaliers, while Rose never left the bench. It was the second night of a back-to-back, but it appears coach Tom Thibodeau plans to keep that arrangement in place.
“(Rose) handles it very well,” McBride said. “I don’t think he’s the type of guy to get down on himself. We’re all human and at the end of the day we compete. That’s why we’re in this business, in this league. You couldn’t ask for a better vet. He’s handled it well. He’s talked to me. He understands it. It’s the nature of the beast.”
McBride has been waiting for a shot at regular playing time since being selected in the second round of the 2021 draft. He averaged 9.3 minutes in 40 games as a rookie and was seeing just 6.8 minutes per night in 12 games before this current opportunity. McBride isn’t an offensive threat like Rose, but he has other qualities that fit his coach’s philosophy.
“He’s real long. You look at wingspan, that’s a huge asset for him,” Thibodeau said. “Toughness, anticipation, great feet, strength, all those things. Very, very competitive. High IQ in terms of reading the game. And he’s a multiple-effort guy. He’s going to give you more than one effort on every play.”
There’s more on the Knicks:
- Rose and Cam Reddish have joined Evan Fournier in being removed from the rotation, but Thibodeau expects everyone to contribute, whether they’re seeing regular playing time or not, Popper adds in a separate story. Thibodeau explained that he made the latest moves to place a stronger emphasis on defense.
- The Knicks need to find a star player and they have to be ready with an offer when the next one becomes available, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said tonight on the network’s pre-game show (video link). Woj mentions the Bulls‘ Zach LaVine as a potential target by February’s trade deadline, but says he’s not available yet. LaVine signed a five-year extension with Chicago during the offseason.
- In case you missed it, the Knicks are reportedly working with Reddish’s representatives to try to find a trade for the fourth-year forward.