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What is Robin Lopez’s future with the Bulls?

By Matt Ostrowski

BOSTON, MA - APRIL 26: Al Horford #42 and Jae Crowder #99 of the Boston Celtics complete with Robin Lopez #8 of the Chicago Bulls for a rebound during the third quarter of Game Five of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at TD Garden on April 26, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 26: Al Horford #42 and Jae Crowder #99 of the Boston Celtics complete with Robin Lopez #8 of the Chicago Bulls for a rebound during the third quarter of Game Five of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at TD Garden on April 26, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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As the Chicago Bulls look to rebuild for the future, Robin Lopez is one of the few veterans left on the team. What might his future hold?

Earlier this summer, the Chicago Bulls front office sent a clear message regarding the direction of the franchise when they traded Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves. With Butler out, youth was in with the likes of Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen.

Now, the Bulls only employ two players who were in the NBA prior to this decade: Dwyane Wade and Robin Lopez.

With rumors swirling that Wade is expected to be bought out in the coming months, that leaves Lopez as the lone veteran on the Bulls. Yet there’s seemingly been no rumors on his status, and as a rebuilding team, you would think the Bulls might try to move him.

But the thing is, Lopez is a decent player. He does everything good enough to be a starting center in this league, but still, nothing well enough to separate himself from any other starting center.

Most of his shortcomings are on the offensive side of the ball, where he is relatively ineffective as the roll man in a pick-and-roll. Unfortunately, that is basically the sole offensive purpose of a center like Lopez in this modern, small-ball version of the NBA: set screens and roll to the rim.

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Lopez generated just .93 points per possession as the roll man last season, which was in the 32nd percentile of NBA players, according to Synergy data collected at NBA.com. Most of his offensive contribution lies on the offensive glass, where he ranked in the top 15 in the NBA with an offensive rebound percentage of 11.5 percent.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Bulls gave up 2.3 points per 100 possessions less with Lopez on the floor than off the floor, according to NBAWowy.com. That’s a small, but definitely not meaningless disparity. For reference, had the Bulls been 2.3 points per 100 possessions better on defense for the entire season, they would have had the third-best defense in the league instead of sixth, behind only the Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs.

Lopez still has his limitations on that side of the ball. Most of his impact comes as a rim protector, yet he struggles defending the pick-and-roll, as evidenced when the Boston Celtics began picking the Bulls apart in Game 3 of last season’s playoff series.

Lopez is due about $28 million the next two seasons, a figure that looked great after the cap spike spending spree of last summer. Now, it looks a bit closer to just okay as the spending spree has settled down and guys like Timofey Mozgov aren’t getting $64 million contracts.

So basically, this all goes to say that Lopez is an okay player on an okay contract, which is fine if he’s on a team that he can help make a deep run into the playoffs. Safe to say the Bulls aren’t that team, so is there a market for him to be traded?

Right now, I think that answer is probably no. Pretty much every team that is trying to contend either has a much better starting center, or doesn’t have the flexibility to acquire a guy with $28 million attached to him. Not to mention, Lopez probably isn’t playable against the Warriors, basically the measuring stick for any player in this league right now.

And of course, any rebuilding team wouldn’t take on $28 million in salary without an asset attached to it, which the Bulls should be trying to acquire and not be giving up, even if they don’t really seem aware of that fact. 

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So at the moment, a trade involving Robin Lopez doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Maybe as the trade deadline nears, some team will find him attractive to help them make a playoff push, but that normally happens with expiring contracts, not guys that have another year on their contract.

For now, expect Lopez to be in a Bulls uniform, which like everything else about Lopez, is fine. He can be a decent mentor to young big men like Markkanen, Bobby Portis and Cristiano Felicio. He’s also not quite good enough to win a ton of the games for the Bulls in a season where losing needs to be the goal.

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