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Chicago Bulls New Player Profile: Joffrey Lauvergne

By Daniel Coughlin

Feb 13, 2017; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal (3) fouls Oklahoma City Thunder center Joffrey Lauvergne (77) on his dunk attempt during the second half at Verizon Center. Washington Wizards defeated Oklahoma City Thunder 120-98. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 13, 2017; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal (3) fouls Oklahoma City Thunder center Joffrey Lauvergne (77) on his dunk attempt during the second half at Verizon Center. Washington Wizards defeated Oklahoma City Thunder 120-98. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Chicago Bulls acquired Joffrey Lauvergne! I might have just oversold that transaction, particularly since they sent Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott and a second-round draft pick the other direction for a package that included Lauvergne.

Must Read: Bulls Weekly Grades: Feb. 26 Edition

The King Joffrey or whatever was definitely the worst on Game of Thrones and deserved to be poisoned. Thankfully, this isn’t that same dude. Enter, another Euro on the Bulls roster.

Player: Joffrey Lauvergne

Position: Center

Remaining Contract:

2016-17 $1,709,720

This, like the Anthony Morrow contract, is an expiring deal. He’s on a cheap contract, but it seems extremely unlikely that he’ll be around after it expires at the end of this season.

Career Info: 3-year Veteran

This is the third year of NBA basketball for the big Frenchman. He played two season with the Denver Nuggets before making his way over to the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was the third option for Denver behind Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic, then he was the third option behind Steven Adams and Enes Kanter in Oklahoma City.

He’s played just 134 NBA games to date, averaging a little over 15 minutes per game.  His line of 6.3 points, 4.1 rebounds for his career leaves a lot to be desired. He probably belongs in the NBA, but keeps finding himself behind center combos.

With his contract expiring this summer, he’ll probably be on the move. I’m not even sure that I’d believe he stays in the United States. With his limited playing time and low salary, looking for a deal in China, Turkey or Spain might not be a bad idea.

Lauvergne broke into the Bulls game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night, but played just two minutes and looked the opposite of good.

Role for Bulls: The Bench

I mentioned that Lauvergne has spent time behind the Jokic-Nurkic combo,  and then the Adams-Kanter combo.

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Now, he’s behind the Robin Lopez-Cristiano Felicio combo. I’d much rather have either of those guys on the floor than Lauvergne, he just can’t find a good situation. Hopefully, free agency will treat him better.

Honestly, I don’t see where he gets off bench and into a game without one of the two guys in front of him going down with an injury or foul trouble. Or, they could try to sneak him in with a two-center lineup alongside Felicio, with Cristiano taking the power forward duties. Doesn’t seem all that great to me.

The contract appears to be expiring money and that makes it all the more bizarre that two of the three players acquired for Gibson and McDermott are expiring deals for players that Chicago probably wants no part of after the next 20 games.

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