The rookie deals are set in place now with the Chicago Bulls for former Florida State forward Patrick Williams and Kansas point guard Devon Dotson.
The roster for the Chicago Bulls is starting to come together just a few days into this cycle of free agency. Negotiations for this cycle of free agency began as recently as Nov. 20, and the 2020 NBA Draft took place on the night of Nov. 18. In just five days, it does appear that the Bulls are very close to having their 15-man roster for next season pieced together.
Ahead of Training Camp (which begins on Dec. 1), the Bulls have mostly kept to the status quo this offseason, at least in terms of altering the roster construction. The Bulls haven’t made any big splash trades or signings in free agency. In fact, the lone free agent addition so far this offseason came in the form of the former Brooklyn Nets veteran 34-year-old shooting guard Garrett Temple, over the weekend.
Moreover, the Bulls did have an interesting haul on draft night. They selected the former Florida State Seminoles freshman forward Patrick Williams fourth overall in the draft lottery. And they picked the 21-year-old KK Mega Bemax big man Marko Simonovic 44th overall in the second round.
One of the biggest value finds this offseason for the Bulls was signing the former Kansas Jayhawks star sophomore point guard Devon Dotson as an undrafted free agent in the hours following the conclusion of the second round of the draft. Dotson was one of the best and most notable undrafted free agents that emerged following draft night.
And on the afternoon of Nov. 22, the news arrived that the Bulls had signed both Williams and Dotson to their first NBA contracts (per the official NBA transactions site). Williams get a rookie deal, and Dotson got one of the two-way contract slots. The other two-way contract slot looks to once again be occupied by the French shooting guard/wing Adam Mokoka.
At least over the course of the next two seasons, Williams is set to get the rookie scale contract salary totaling a little under $15 million. And Dotson will be locked in just for the year, with the two-way contract he signed.
Dotson could contribute to the backcourt rotation later in the season, especially with how the Bulls reordered the look of that portion of the roster. The Bulls parted ways with point guard Kris Dunn and combo guard Shaquille Harrison in this cycle of free agency.
And Williams is likely to compete with either power forward Lauri Markkanen or veteran small forward Otto Porter Jr. for minutes in the forward rotation next season.