Provided by Nationwide Insurance Agent JEFF VUKOVICH
It’s NBA Draft Week, and for the second time in six years, Chicago Bulls Management may weigh whether or not to trade their leading scorer.
In 2017, of course, that was Jimmy Butler. Now it is Zack Lavignewhich landed in trade rumors again.
On the other hand, seeing as the Bulls and LaVine haven’t even strayed from smiles and handshakes about a $215 million five-year contract extension, it’s a surprising development.
On the other hand, since the Bulls failed to make the playoffs despite having a healthy cast of their key players — except, of course, Lonzo Ball — everything should be on the table.
Whether the Bulls gauge LaVine’s market simply because it brings them the greatest commercial return or because the management and coaching staff have questions about his status as a cornerstone of the franchise depends on who is doing the talking. Both theories exist.
But this is clear: the bulls will face a difficult decision if the right supply hits.
This, of course, is where things get tricky. The Bulls, according to league sources, value LaVine greatly, as they should. He’s a two-time All-Star and is coming off a season in which he beat a slow start averaging 24.8 points per game on a real shooting percentage of 60.7 percent.
A league source said the Bulls will focus on getting a good young player, multiple first-round picks and a paycheck if they decide to trade LaVine. Another said a first-round pick and an established upscale player might be interesting enough.
Regardless, it’s an important week for the future direction of the franchise. Even if LaVine wasn’t dealt with, one wonders how he would react to the trade rumors again.
Here’s what Artūras Karnišovas had to say about LaVine in Karnišovas’ exit interview at the end of the season on April 15:
“Zach was unbelievable in the second half of the season. He went back to ‘Healthy Zach’ and averaged 25 points per game as a highly efficient scorer. Obviously, for example in the Toronto game, we don’t win that game without Zach. It was a big part of it and the way we won the game in the second half. He did a good job for us.”
LaVine easily represents the biggest trading asset for a bull. He has four seasons left on his NBA contract which will raise his salary cap over the coming years. He is a dynamic scorer whose defense has improved.
Gauging his market could simply be management’s acknowledgment of the limited avenues to extricate themselves from their current situation, especially with Ball’s $20 million deal still standing for the time being.
Currently, the Bulls do not have any draft picks in Thursday’s NBA draft. They still owe a first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs from acquisition DeMar DeRozan to the signing and trade. And if the administration, Nikola Vucevic, Kobe White and Ayo Dosunmo, resigned, as Karnešovas said he wished to do, they could not use their full median exception without stepping into luxury tax territory.
That last fact is why it’s so hard to imagine management rebooting. Flirting with a luxury tax for a team coming off an unfixed season seems inconsistent with the way the Bulls have historically operated.
Bradley Bell’s pending deal to the Phoenix Suns has left the Miami Heat as a potential suitor looking to raise the bar for scoring and star power. But it’s well documented that right now, The Heat is focused on whether or not Damian Lillard finally agrees to leave Portland.
The futures of these big names, and possibly others, will come to a head this week.
Lavigne and White represent the only remaining players from the roster that Karnicovas inherited from John Paxson. Coincidentally, LaVine arrived in the butler trade in 2017.
Six years later, the Bulls have reached another potential crossroads.