Shooting guard Denzel Valentine is going to be an interesting free agency to watch, if the Chicago Bulls decide to not bring him back this offseason.
There’s going to be a decent list of players in the “Delete Eight” around the NBA that are going to opt out of voluntary group workouts this month. And the Chicago Bulls are one of the eight teams that will be participating in the voluntary group workouts this month, getting back into action at the Advocate Center for the first time in a long while.
One of the players to watch in voluntary group workouts, that could soon be on a different NBA team, is shooting guard Denzel Valentine.
According to a report from K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago, the former Michigan State Spartan and first round pick of the Bulls in the 2016 NBA Draft Valentine will be participating in voluntary group workouts (which started up this month). Valentine is one of the impending free agent guards that the Bulls have to decide what to do about this offseason.
But another one of their impending free agent guards, point guard Kris Dunn, will not be participating in voluntary group workouts largely due to the recovery of the knee injury he suffered back in January. Dunn and Valentine were trending in different directions before the 2019-20 season concluded too.
It is good to see Valentine getting involved in voluntary group workouts to try and make his case to either return for the Bulls next season, or land on another NBA team. He is one of the impending free agents that has no guarantee that he will land on an NBA roster heading into the 2020-21 regular season.
Valentine played in 36 games during the 2019-20 regular season (five of which he started in). He averaged 6.8 points per game, 2.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.2 blocks. Valentine shot 40.9 percent from the field, 33.6 percent from beyond the arc, and 75.0 percent from the free-throw line.
Getting as many players to get back to voluntary group workouts could be big for the Bulls. They haven’t played a meaningful NBA game in more than six months, and it looks like it will be a while until the start of the 2020-21 season.