- Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report conducted a Q&A with Bulls star Zach LaVine, covering his season, team and ambitions. LaVine has averaged 24.5 points per game and will become a free agent this summer. “For me, it’s not even about my contract [situation]”, he said. “I’m a competitor. I want to go to the playoffs and play on the big stage. Contract, everything, that all comes. But I look at it day by day. You can’t get to April in a day. You’re gonna have to play and compete each and every day to get there, and then once the playoffs come, we got to go do our thing. You know I’m really excited. I’m really excited to be on that stage, because I haven’t been there yet.”
Speaking to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago on the Bulls Talk Podcast, Bulls president and COO Michael Reinsdorf said the plan is to keep All-Star guard Zach LaVine in Chicago for “years to come” and reiterated that ownership is comfortable with becoming a taxpayer as long as the team is a legitimate contender.
“Absolutely,” Reinsdorf said. “All you have to do is go back and look at the last number of championship teams, how many of them were in the luxury tax? With the nature of the NBA and having a soft cap, if you want to compete for championships, you have to be willing to spend into the tax.”
“I think most people will tell you, ‘I don’t want to spend into the tax if we’re not competing for championships, if we’re not good enough. I don’t want to be the eighth seed or out of the playoffs and go into the luxury tax.’ But when it comes to a team like this, and if we can take the necessary steps next year that allow us to compete for a championship, then for sure we’ll go into the tax. It’s part of the nature of the NBA.”
The stance is one that Reinsdorf and his father – team owner Jerry Reinsdorf – have conveyed in the past. However, the franchise has a history of being relatively conservative in its spending, having paid the luxury tax just once. As Johnson points out, the club was on track to be a taxpayer for a second time in 2014, but traded away Luol Deng after Derrick Rose tore his meniscus in order to get below the tax line.
“That was a particular circumstance,” Reinsdorf said. “You’re not going to see us make trades like that when we’re competing for championships. That doesn’t make any sense.”
As Johnson acknowledges, the Bulls have shown an increased willingness to spend during the last year or two, expanding their player development and scouting departments and carrying full 15-man rosters. They also used a portion of their bi-annual exception to offer Tristan Thompson more than the minimum salary, ensuring they beat out other potential suitors on the buyout market.
Currently, the Bulls owe about $98MM in guaranteed money to nine players in 2022/23. That number would increase to $100MM if Tony Bradley exercises his player option.
A maximum-salary contract for LaVine, who will be an unrestricted free agent, would pay him a projected $35.7MM next season, or $41.7MM if he qualifies for a super-max. Theoretically, Chicago could give him a max deal and still remain below the projected $147MM tax line by filling out the roster with low-cost contracts.
Still, Reinsdorf’s comments suggest the Bulls could be willing to make moves – perhaps on the trade market or using their mid-level exception – that push team salary above that $147MM threshold if ownership feels the club is on the verge of title contention.
“We’re going to spend the money because you have to invest in your team,” Reinsdorf said. “I’m looking forward to it, because if we’re spending in the tax, that means we have a really good team.”
- Patrick Williams is getting closer to returning from wrist surgery but the 2020 lottery pick won’t automatically return to the Bulls’ starting lineup, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “Staff-wise, as players get closer and closer to coming back, I think Javonte [Green] has done a really good job with that group in terms of how he’s fit in, what he’s been able to bring to the table in Patrick’s absence,’’ coach Billy Donovan said. “I’m not opposed to bringing Patrick off the bench and I’m not opposed to starting him. I think a lot of it is going to be once he can get back to practice, is there a minutes restriction on him, how many minutes can he play at a time, and what’s the best role for him to help our team?’’
- Alex Caruso underwent surgery to repair a fractured right wrist on January 24th and had an six-to-eight week reevaluation timeline. The Bulls guard appears to be on schedule, according to Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago. “We’re hoping by the end of this week, certainly early next week, that he’ll have a ball in his hands and be able to do things,” Donovan said. Williams has begun doing some dribbling and shooting work but Donovan said he needs to strengthen the wrist further before facing live contact.
Jevon Carter, who was recently released by the Nets in order to sign Goran Dragic, plans to sign with the Bucks after he clears waivers.
It’s the second time the Bucks will have scooped up an ex-Nets player who was cut in the past few weeks, as the same thing happened with DeAndre’ Bembry following the blockbuster James Harden/Ben Simmons trade (Brooklyn received three players but sent out two, necessitating an incumbent player’s release). Eric Nehm of The Athletic explores what Milwaukee will be getting with Carter’s expected addition.
Carter, the 32nd overall pick of the 2018 draft, was the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year in his senior season at West Virginia and his defensive ability is the primary reason he’s in the NBA. Carter is a tough defender with strong instincts who can be a pest to opposing point guards, Nehm writes.
Carter doesn’t provide much offensively, but he’s a career 36.9% three-point shooter (33.1% this season) and the majority of his shots come from beyond the arc. According to Nehm, Carter likely won’t be asked to do much beyond catch-and-shoot. Carter is unlikely to play a large role with Milwaukee, but he should provide capable regular season minutes while George Hill and Pat Connaughton recover from injuries, Nehm opines.
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- Pistons coach Dwane Casey says the team wants to get a good look at rookies Isaiah Livers and Chris Smith in the latter portion of the season (Twitter links via Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press). Livers has been slow to recover from right foot surgery, while Smith had a torn ACL last summer. Livers recently made his debut with Detroit’s G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise. Smith is on a two-way contract, but Livers has a guaranteed standard contract for this season and next, with a club option in 2023/24.
- Pistons rookie Cade Cunningham, who was recently named MVP of the Rising Stars event during All-Star weekend, said he was eager to prove himself on the big stage, as he told Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. “All this talent, I wanted to stand out for sure. It’s the All-Star Game weekend. Everyone is going to go out there and try to have fun. But everybody deep down still wants to be that guy. I knew that. I wanted to compete. I wanted to win. More importantly, I was happy to come out with a trophy, some hardware,” Cunningham said.
- New Bulls addition Tristan Thompson believes he’ll fit in well with Chicago, as Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic relays. “I think I’ll mesh pretty well with this group,” Thompson said. He also believes DeMar DeRozan should be the MVP front-runner. “Right now, he’s the league MVP in my eyes, flat-out,” Thompson said, as part of a larger quote.
Bulls wing DeMar DeRozan considers his latest All-Star appearance, his fifth overall and first since 2018, to be his favorite All-Star selection thus far, per Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago.
“It’s hard to go against the first time I was here [in 2014 while with the Raptors],” DeRozan said. “But to be here again after everything I went through, it’s sweet.”
DeRozan is in the midst of possibly his best NBA season yet, his 13th in the league. In 55 games for the 38-21 Bulls, the 32-year-old out of USC is averaging 28.1 PPG (his highest scoring average ever, fifth in the NBA this year), 5.2 RPG, and 5.1 APG, with a shooting line of .517/.343/.866.
“Over the span of my career I did a lot of learning, personally, on the court, outside the court,” the 6’6″ Bulls swingman said. “Just trying to understand a lot of dynamics of just being a man first. And a lot of that, looking in the mirror moments and understanding a lot of things is this moment now, of just me being in my complete balance.”
DeRozan also leads the NBA in fourth-quarter scoring with 443 points and counting. Schaefer writes that DeRozan is posting a clutch-time shooting line of .541/.667/.902. The Bulls are currently the second seed in the Eastern Conference, with DeRozan leading the way. He has a strong case to be a top-five MVP candidate this season.
There’s more out of the Central Division:
- Several current All-Stars heaped praise on new Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, writes James Boyd of the Indianapolis Star. Haliburton, who participated in the All-Star weekend festivities during the Rising Stars contest and the Clutch Challenge this year, hopes to return to a future All-Star weekend for the main event. “That’s the goal,” Haliburton said of playing in the All-Star game. “Don’t know when, but eventually I’ll be back, and I’m looking forward to it.” Bulls All-Star guard Zach LaVine spoke about how Haliburton can benefit from his fresh start in Indiana. “Tyrese is off the charts, and him getting a different opportunity now in Indiana I think is gonna be big for him,” LaVine said. “Obviously getting traded and me being traded young as well [from the Timberwolves to the Bulls], you have to take it one way or another… You’re a little shell-shocked at first, but once you embrace that opportunity and go after it, I think he’s gonna be great.”
- Pacers backup point guard T.J. McConnell appears likely to miss the rest of of the 2021/22 season, per Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. Given the original timeline projected for the 6’1″ veteran’s recovery from a December surgery for a torn scapholunate ligament in his right wrist, this news is not entirely unexpected. McConnell has appeared in just 24 contests this year. McConnell, 29, has averaged 8.7 PPG, 5.0 APG and 1.1 SPG while shooting 50.3% from the field and 80% from the free throw line.
- Provided that the Cavaliers are able to retain their core of power forward Evan Mobley and All-Stars Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen, Jason Lloyd of The Athletic suggests that Cleveland should do its darnedest to add 11-year Cavaliers veteran LeBron James, who would reach free agency in 2023, at age 38, if he doesn’t sign an extension before then. During an active 2022 All-Star weekend in Cleveland, James went out of his way to praise the team-building work of team president Koby Altman. “I think Koby and those guys have done an unbelievable job drafting and making trades,” James told Lloyd. “The door’s not closed on [the prospect of James making yet another Cleveland return].” The Cavaliers could conceivably carve out cap space during the 2023 offseason in part by moving off the $17.3MM salary owed forward Lauri Markkanen and perhaps by picking up and then offloading the $8.9MM team option of wing Isaac Okoro.
The Bulls have used their bi-annual exception in order to sign Tristan Thompson, according to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report (Twitter links). The Bulls will be paying Thompson $1MM by using the BAE — a minimum contract for the remainder of the season would have been worth $774,289, Pincus notes.
The move is significant, because as the name suggests, the bi-annual exception is only available every other season — Chicago won’t have access to it in 2022/23. We project the BAE to be worth $4,017,000 next season. The Mavericks are the only other team to have used their BAE this season — they used it to sign Sterling Brown last summer.
The BAE is a way for a team to sign a player who may command more than the minimum salary, but less than the mid-level exception. Chicago already used its mid-level to sign Alex Caruso and Marko Simonovic last summer, so it wasn’t available for Thompson.
The BAE can be used for contracts up to two years, with a 5% raise after year one. It’s only available to teams that are over the cap and under the tax apron. In this case, it was used by the Bulls to ensure they could sign Thompson for the remainder of the season, as I’m sure other teams would have been interested in his services if he were only making the minimum.
Using the BAE on Thompson shows that Chicago is intent on competing for a championship this season and is willing to sacrifice future flexibility to do so. Thompson provides championship experience, leadership and rebounding for a team that lacked frontcourt depth.
The Bulls are currently 27th in total rebounds and 29th in offensive rebounds — areas Thompson has always excelled in. Among active players, he’s fifth in career offense rebounds and fourth in offensive rebounding percentage. He’s also tied for first all-time (with Dennis Rodman) for the highest career offensive rebounding percentage in the NBA playoffs.
The Bulls officially signed veteran center Tristan Thompson on Saturday, adding a former NBA champion to their rotation. Thompson, who is expected to provide depth behind star center Nikola Vucevic, drew praise from new teammate Zach LaVine this weekend.
“He’s going to bring another championship-level guy where he’s been in these games before,” LaVine said, as relayed by Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune. “He can help us in these situations.”
Chicago is tied with Miami for the best record in the East at 38-21. The team won its final five games entering the All-Star break and has added Vucevic, Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso and others over the last calendar year.
“With AK [Arturas Karnisovas] and Marc [Eversley], obviously, they’re going for it,” LaVine said of the Bulls’ front office. “They trust in me, they trust in DeMar, they trust in this group, and it just means a lot going into the last year of my contract that they’re putting a team around us that can compete.’’
There’s more from the Central Division tonight:
- Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton finally enjoyed his Rising Stars moment on Friday, Scott Agness of FieldHouse Files examines. The 21-year-old was acquired by Indiana before this season’s trade deadline. In four games, he’s averaged 20.8 points and 11.0 assists per contest.
- Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen has enjoyed every moment of All-Star Weekend, Kelsey Russo of The Athletic writes. Allen is a major reason why Cleveland owns the fourth-best record in the East at 35-23. This is his first All-Star appearance. “It’s still a lot to take in,” Allen said. “I don’t think I’ve fully grasped the moment that I’m in. I’m part of the top 24 players in the NBA at this All-Star Weekend, so I’m just excited, I’m ready to take it all in and just absorb every moment. It’s been a one-of-a-kind weekend that I wouldn’t trade for anything.”
- Suns head coach Monty Williams is happy to see Jalen Smith get a new opportunity with the Pacers, as relayed by James Boyd of The Indianapolis Star (Twitter link). Smith was traded from Phoenix to Indiana earlier this month. “I’m happy for him,” Williams said as part of a larger quote. “He’s a guy that worked his tail off every single day with us. He just couldn’t crack the rotation.” Smith has appeared in four games with the Pacers, averaging 12.0 points and 6.3 rebounds in 21 minutes per contest.
The Sixers have confidence in coach Doc Rivers to lead the team to a title now that James Harden has been paired up with Joel Embiid, a source tells Marc Stein (Substack link). Philadelphia hasn’t won an NBA championship in 39 years and Rivers has a recent history of playoff disappointments, but team officials believe he can oversee the new partnership.
Shortly after the trade with the Nets was completed, Stein heard rumors that the Sixers might be considering Mike D’Antoni, who coached Harden for four years in Houston. D’Antoni is currently serving as a coaching advisor to the Pelicans after spending last season with Harden as an assistant in Brooklyn.
However, Stein’s source insists that Rivers’ job is safe, saying he gained admiration from ownership and the front office with the way he guided the team through the distractions caused by Ben Simmons‘ absence.
Stein offers more inside information from around the league:
- Goran Dragic met with the Nets on Friday as he considers his next team following a buyout with the Spurs. Coach Steve Nash served as a mentor when Dragic entered the NBA with the Suns and has been the team’s lead recruiter for the free agent guard. Along with Brooklyn, Stein cites the Bucks, Bulls, Warriors and Clippers as the top suitors for Dragic. He’s been “really open-minded” to the offers from each team, a source tells Stein.
- Magic veterans Gary Harris and Robin Lopez haven’t pushed for buyouts so far, according to Stein’s sources, who add that Harris may want to stay in Orlando in hopes of re-signing during the offseason. There was talk that Lopez might join his brother in Milwaukee after a buyout, Stein states, but the recent additions of Greg Monroe and Serge Ibaka may have quelled the Bucks‘ interest (though Monroe’s most recent 10-day contract has expired). Golden State may need another center for the playoffs, and Stein sees Lopez as a potential “home run” for the Warriors if he becomes available.
- Small guarantees for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans in the final year of their contracts motivated the Mavericks to acquire them in last week’s trade for Kristaps Porzingis. Dinwiddie has just a $10MM guarantee on his $18.9MM salary for 2023/24, while Bertans carries a $5MM guarantee on his $16MM salary for 2024/25. Dallas is hoping those limited guarantees will make both contracts easier to trade.
10:33pm: The move is official, the Bulls confirmed in a press release.
4:36pm: To open a roster spot for the addition of Tristan Thompson, the Bulls will waive forward Alfonzo McKinnie, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
McKinnie earned a standard contract with Chicago after signing a pair of 10-day hardship deals with the team in December. He appeared in 17 games, made three starts and averaged 3.5 points and 1.9 rebounds in 12.1 minutes per night.
Because his release will come before March 1, McKinnie will be eligible for the playoffs if he signs with another team. The 29-year-old has played for five teams in his five-year NBA career, starting with the Raptors in 2017/18 and spending time with the Warriors, Cavaliers and Lakers as well.
Thompson is expected to officially join the Bulls soon after completing a buyout with the Pacers earlier this week.
Free agent center Tristan Thompson has signed with the Bulls for the rest of the season, the team announced in a press release. Chicago also confirmed that Alfonzo McKinnie has been waived to create room on the roster.
Thompson’s signing has been expected since he reached a buyout agreement with the Pacers on Thursday. He played four games for Indiana after being acquired from the Kings shortly before the trade deadline.
The 30-year-old will provide an experienced back-up for a Bulls team that’s low on big men behind Nikola Vucevic. He has extensive playoff experience, including four trips to the NBA Finals with the Cavaliers.
Thompson has played in 34 combined games this season, averaging 6.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in 15.3 minutes per night. He has been a reliable shooter around the rim throughout his career and is connecting at 50.3% from the field this year.