How the Chicago Bulls will piece together the backcourt rotation for next season heavily relies on how they handle their restricted free agent market.
There’s a number of younger guards on the current Chicago Bulls roster that are set to hit the restricted free agent market this offseason. Among those, that might be the most significant, is the former top five pick of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2016 NBA Draft and 6-foot-4 point guard Kris Dunn.
The Bulls did get likely the best individual production out of Dunn in his career to date in the season that was for them. Dunn didn’t improve much on the offensive end of the floor, but his usage was altered in the sense that he could make better use out of his defensive stopper ability.
At least at the outset of the 2019-20 regular season, head coach Jim Boylen and the Bulls utilized Dunn more in a defensive stopper role off the bench. That seemed to be the best that would best serve him over the long haul too.
Although, Dunn did have to take on a bigger starting role once the injuries started to pile up for the Bulls later on in the regular season.
But it still looks as if he’ll be best served over the long haul in the role he was in at the beginning of the 2019-20 campaign. In the season that was for the Bulls, Dunn played in 51 games (32 of which he started). He averaged 7.3 points per game, 3.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.0 steals, and 0.3 blocks. And Dunn shot 44.4 percent from the field 25.9 percent from beyond the arc, and 74.1 percent from the free-throw line.
That amounted to him registering a -0.6 box plus/minus rating, 0.4 value over replacement player rating, .085 win shares per 48 minutes, 2.3 total win shares, an NBA-best 3.8 steal percentage, and a 51.0 true shooting percentage. His defensive rating sat at 106, and he registered a 3.1 defensive box plus/minus rating.
Even though the advanced metrics for Dunn still left a lot to be desired, they did improve at least slightly on both ends of the floor. With that in mind, there is likely to be more suitors than originally anticipated for his services in the restricted free agent market this offseason. Any teams that need a defensive stopper, sizable guard, or both, might be looking at Dunn.
A recent piece from Anthony Slater of The Athletic (paid content) did mention Dunn’s name in a list of possible free agent targets for the Golden State Warriors this offseason. The piece mainly had to do with a profile of fellow former Bulls guard Michael Carter-Williams as an underrated possible free agent target of the Warriors.
But one name that was still brought up in the piece was Dunn’s. It talks about how Dunn is set to get a starter-level amount of money for his qualified offer this offseason since he started in the proper amount of games in the last couple of seasons. That means he would be due around at least $7 million this offseason for his next contract.
It’s not out of the question for the Bulls to want to re-sign Dunn this offseason. He provided a lot of value in the role he was put in this offseason. But it’s hard to tell where this new-look front office regime is going to want to look to reshape this rebuild during the rest of the summer months heading into the fall.