The Chicago Bulls and Zach LaVine likely won’t come to terms on an extension of LaVine’s rookie contract by the deadline time on Monday. That could change before 6 p.m. ET, but it’s unlikely for a few reasons.
The 2017-18 NBA season begins on Thursday night for the Chicago Bulls, but Monday brings the rookie contract extension deadline for the newly-acquired Zach LaVine.
LaVine, who was acquired by the Bulls in the deal that sent Jimmy Butler and the No. 16 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft to the Minnesota Timberwolves, tore the ACL in his left knee this past February and hasn’t logged a minute of action since.
However, LaVine is only 22 years old, has two slam dunk contest titles under his belt and showed some real promise on the offensive end of the floor before injuring his knee last season. He was the primary piece in the Butler trade and if he can find that athleticism and shooting stroke that was coming along last year, the Bulls might have a star of their rebuild.
LaVine shot a shade under 46 percent in 710 attempts from the field in 47 games last season. He shot 38.7 percent from deep in 310 attempts. The analytical numbers may not favor LaVine becoming a star, as The Athletic Chicago‘s Stephen Noh wrote after the trade, but LaVine did have a true shooting percentage of 57.6 percent. That percentage was just .4 percent off of guys like Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis.
With the NBA’s altering their regular season schedule and starting the season sooner than usual, the rookie-scale deadline is on Monday. That means the clock’s ticking on the Bulls and LaVine’s camp to come to terms before LaVine will enter restricted free agency next summer.
Chicago Tribune Bulls reporter K.C. Johnson noted that talks between the Bulls front office and LaVine have been “cordial”, but it’s likely that a deal gets done between the two sides next summer.
"Deadlines have a funny way of forcing progress, so things can change over the final hours. However, initial talks have revealed the Bulls may prefer to wait until next summer, when their financial flexibility can be manipulated around whatever LaVine ultimately re-signs for and injury concerns are allayed.The Bulls have made clear that, barring an unexpected setback in LaVine’s return from left ACL surgery, re-signing him is a matter of when, not if."
There’s really no sense of doubt that a deal will get done between the Bulls and LaVine at some point next summer. If (and really, when) LaVine enters restricted free agency next summer, the Bulls will have the ability to match any and every offer LaVine receives from other teams.
“I’m very excited about Zach. You can tell how much he wants to be out there with our guys,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said on LaVine, via Johnson.
“Every day he comes in and says, ‘Coach, I’m ready to go out there.’ But it’s a process. We have to make sure he’s 100 percent healthy, even though he feels no symptoms right now. He’s got no soreness in that leg. But he can’t wait, his teammates can’t wait and the staff obviously is very excited to get him back.”
There’s definitely some buzz with LaVine’s arrival and a pinch of anticipation towards his pending debut with the Bulls. He fits the mold of “younger and more athletic” that Gar Forman has been pretending the Bulls were moving towards last season with the impactful nonsensical signings of Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade for what turned out to be one season.
With the trade of Butler, LaVine, along with the likes of the returning Justin Holiday, the re-signed Cristiano Felicio and the low-risk signing of guys like David Nwaba, the Bulls are actually younger and much more athletic than the past couple of seasons.
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The Bulls have plenty of belief that LaVine can lead the charge through the rebuilding phase, but it looks like they’ll take a wait-and-see approach to see how many cash they’ll have to dish out if the former Rising Stars MVP continues to rise towards stardom.