5. Zach LaVine, Shooting Guard
Contract: $19.5 million
Last offseason, the Chicago Bulls made the move to match the offer sheet of budding star shooting guard Zach LaVine so that the Sacramento Kings weren’t able to outbid them. At the time, that was a widely scrutinized move since LaVine came back to the Bulls on a dollar figure just shy of $20 million per year.
Since LaVine had just recently come off an ACL tear within the year when the Bulls locked down his offer sheet, there was cause for argument on both sides. But what wound up happening last season proved that GarPax was right to have the trust in LaVine that he could stay healthy and take his game to another level.
Never before had LaVine put up the production he did during the 2018-19 campaign where he averaged 23.7 points per game and around 4.5 rebounds and assists. He became a bona fide offensive threat that was the most consistent player for the Bulls last season. He’s possibly their most valuable player not on a rookie scale contract entering the 2019-20 campaign.
The only player that is on a more expensive contract than LaVine at the moment is the former Washington Wizards small forward Otto Porter Jr. But there could be worse situations for the Bulls than having their two most proven and productive players from last season as the two highest paid on the books.