Former Chicago Bulls: Timothe Luwawu finding a home in Brooklyn

Former Chicago Bulls shooting guard/small forward Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot is doing really well with the Brooklyn Nets since the restart.

There’s a number of stories of undervalued former Chicago Bulls players finding new homes with teams that participated in the NBA’s 22-team restart plan (which started last month) at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL. The Bulls were not one of the 22 teams that were part of the NBA’s bubble restart plan at Disney World. But at least there were a good number of former Bulls players that fans from the Windy City could root for.

Two of the names that didn’t find too much success with the Bulls in recent years, but have in the NBA’s season restart in the bubble at Disney World, are Phoenix Suns point guard Cameron Payne and Brooklyn Nets shooting guard/small forward Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. The latter of those two is still technically alive in the playoffs, although his team is fading fast in the first round.

In their first round playoff matchup, the Nets are battling as a seven seed against the defending NBA Champions and two seed Toronto Raptors. On Aug. 23, the Nets will be taking on the Raptors in game four, trying to avoid a series sweep. But Luwawu is doing the best he can to avoid his team getting swept by the Raptors.

Despite how injured the Nets are right now, they are surely fighting to stay alive. That also fits the narrative of how they’ve fought in the Eastern Conference over the course of the last two seasons. They were one of the surprise teams in the East last season that made the playoffs. And they have a very potent starting five coming back next season if superstar forward Kevin Durant and point guard Kyrie Irving are healthy and ready to go.

But Luwawu is on fire since getting into the bubble. In eight games played for the Nets in their finish to the regular season, he averaged more than 14.0 points per game, around 4.5 rebounds, and 0.5 assists. He shot nearly 50.0 percent from the field, 43.0 percent from beyond the arc, and around 90.0 percent from the free-throw line.

Seeing a version of Luwawu with a 70.0 true shooting percentage, usage rate above 20 percent, and a 125 offensive rating is mind boggling for Bulls fans when thinking back to his production during his run in the Windy City. In his 29 games played with the Bulls, Luwawu averaged 6.8 points per game, 2.7 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.2 blocks. He shot 39.4 percent from the field, 33.0 percent from beyond the arc, and 77.1 percent from the free-throw line.

The difference in production between what Luwawu gave the Nets since the restart, and what he did during his run with the Bulls is pretty incredible. And he’s not slowing down in the playoffs either. In three games played thus far in that Nets playoff series with the Raptors, he’s averaging 17.7 points per game, 4.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 0.3 steals. He’s shooting 38.3 percent from the field, 36.7 percent from beyond the arc, and 85.7 percent from the free-throw line.

Apparently Luwawu is very happy with where he is with the Nets this year. And it makes sense since he really found his rhythm for the first time in his career. He was originally drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 24th overall pick in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft.

Earlier this year, the Nets signed Luwawu to a multi-year contract. He’ll be paid just shy of $2 million for next season with the Nets, which seems like a really big bargain contract at this point. And throughout this season, in his time with the Nets, Luwawu made around $650,000.

Luwawu could be an integral part of the Nets rotation next season once Irving and Durant are back in the mix. The Nets should be one of the true contenders in the East next season, and hopefully the Bulls can make a leap up the standings too.