Chicago Bulls: Taking a deeper dive into extension candidates

Chicago Bulls trio Lauri Markkanen, Zach LaVine and Otto Porter are all extension eligible in the next 12 months. All three are valuable pieces and building blocks in the organisation. What kind of pay-day and structure of deal are they likely to get?

Who from the Chicago Bulls is the most deserving of getting an extension? There’s a few candidates that deserve more attention in the coming years.

Lauri Markkanen

Lauri’s extension is of the rookie type as unlike LaVine and Porter, he will be a restricted free agent. The Bulls have two options when it comes to offering Markannen this deal. A rookie extension needs to be signed prior to the day of their fourth season. This means the Bulls still have a good twelve months to gauge where Laurie is at and what his market will be in restricted free agency.

They can either extend him at the rookie extension deadline or let him head into restricted free agency. They would then wait for the highest bidder and decide if they would like to match or not. Other extension candidates this season like Jaylen Brown and Domantas Sabonis may help to decide Lauri’s market for this deal.

Though they aren’t the same player Markkanen is they are wing players drafted at similar positions to him. Considering where Markannen is after only two seasons its likely that he will end up with a five-year max deal. There are very few elite stretch bigs in the league, with his mix of height and skill he could be the next Dirk Nowitzki.

With Lauri having a large 20 million cap hold, the Bulls would be better to keep that cap hold on the books and give him a max deal when he hits restricted free agency. This will save them 11 million in cap space that could be better spent elsewhere.

Prognosis – five-year max deal starting at $31 million a year.

Zach LaVine

LaVine is in the second year of his four-year deal and will be eligible for an extension in the next twelve months. This extension is less complex than the rookie one but it will also require LaVine to forgo a bigger payday by not letting hit him free agency in three years time.

If the Bulls want to keep this core together then it probably means LaVine gets a max deal too. The Bulls are the only team who can offer him the fifth year which is obviously a massive advantage for them. They may offer LaVine an extension but its unlikely he will accept this deal.

They will probably lock him into a four or five-year max instead but they don’t have to decide on this for another three years. These extra few years gives them a good chance to assess this core. Hopefully by 2021 they will be in the playoffs and pushing for finals or conference finals appearances.

Prognosis – wait till 2022 and offer a max deal starting at $31 million.

Otto Porter

Otto may be the odd man out when it comes to his longterm place on the Bulls. Though he is an excellent two-way player he may command a deal that would be out of reach for this team. If the Bulls extend LaVine and Markkanen and want to add a star in free agency then they may need to let Otto walk.

If Otto decides that this is a team he may want to stay with long-term then he could potentially accept a smaller extension to enable the core to stay together and push for playoff or finals contention. Porter may not have max contract offers in two years time though so there’s a chance he could accept an extension in the next year.

His extension offer would still start at a large amount of 34 million a year. Again Otto is an excellent player but even this lower offer may be too much for the Bulls

Prognosis – push for Otto to accept lower offer, otherwise let him walk in free agency.

This Chicago Bulls team is a year or two away from the playoffs but its important to consider the options they have in regards to future contracts. Heres hoping Bulls management make the right choices so this team can reach their potential.