Chicago Bulls: 3 players that are playing for their future down the stretch

Chicago Bulls playing for a roster spot: Denzel Valentine

Just like he always has throughout his NBA career to date, the former Michigan State Spartans 27-year-old shooting guard/wing Denzel Valentine has played very inconsistent for the Bulls this season. He started off pretty well for the Bulls this season as a newly valued two-guard/wing that could space the floor effectively.

But in the last few months, Valentine saw a lot of his playing time and shooting percentages wane. At this point of the regular season, Valentine is shooting a career-low 32.6 percent from beyond the arc, and 37.9 percent from the field, good for the second lowest tally of his career. His average of 6.7 points per game is also second worst in his career thus far.

Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley took a small risk last offseason by signing Valentine off of the restricted free agent market to a one-year contract extension, worth a little shy of $5 million. But the role that Valentine filled for this team thus far hasn’t been anything but valuable.

Valentine collectively has some of the worst advanced metrics on the team.

All told, Valentine should have to really prove himself down the stretch this season for the Bulls to want to give him another contract come this offseason. It would not make much sense in a fruitful cycle of free agency for the Bulls to give Valentine another year in Chicago if he doesn’t play well down the stretch.