Chicago Bulls: 3 underrated players worth keeping for 2020-21 season

2. Kris Dunn, Point Guard

The only consistent part of the contract situation with the 6-foot-4 and 205 pound former Providence Friars point guard and top five overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft Kris Dunn is that it’s plenty inconsistent. It looked as if the Bulls front office had officially given up on keeping Dunn as an integral part of the young core entering the third year of the rebuild.

But Dunn was put in a new role under the direction of head coach Jim Boylen and GarPax that actually helped him thrive for the first time in his three year run with the Bulls. That is a credit to Boylen and GarPax, which is hard to believe we’re saying.

The Bulls originally snagged Dunn in that famed Jimmy Butler trade, which also involved the likes of shooting guard Zach LaVine and eventually power forward Lauri Markkanen. He started less games this season than he did in each of the last two seasons with the Bulls.

However, Dunn did arguably have his best regular season run to date. He played in 51 games in the season that is currently on pause (starting in 32 of them). Dunn averaged 7.3 points per game, 3.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and a whopping 2.0 steals, while shooting 44.4 percent from the field, 25.9 percent from beyond the arc, and 74.1 percent from the free-throw line.

Dunn is clearly a defensive stopper, who led the NBA in steal rate this season up until the COVID-19 pandemic-induced hiatus (3.8 percent). He also posted a 104 offensive rating/106 defensive rating, -0.6 box plus/minus rating, 0.4 value over replacement player rating, .085 win shares per 48 minutes, and 51.0 true shooting percentage.

This coming offseason, Dunn will be a restricted free agent as he’s technically still in the midst of the final year of his rookie contract. If he’s willing to take more of a team-friendly contract deal this offseason, he should be given at least one more year in a Bulls uniform.