Chicago Bulls: 3 players that deserve bigger contracts

Thaddeus Young, F

I start off this list mostly due to the fact that the way veteran forward Thaddeus Young has started off this season is something that could earn him more than $15 million were he to hit the free agent market this coming offseason. But since the Bulls have Young locked into the next two seasons on his current contract.

So far this season, Young has registered a career-best 3.5 box plus/minus rating, 2.1 value over replacement player rating, .154 win shares per 48 minutes, 59.1 true shooting percentage, and 20.8 player efficiency rating. Those are the types of numbers that can earn a player upward of $15 million easily on the open market.

Young is currently on a contract that pays him just over $13 million annually. And he will eclipse the $14 million mark in salary for the final year of his current contract next season. It will be the summer of 2022 when Young is set to hit the free agent market next. That is still a good while before he is set to negotiate his next contract.

And at 32 years old now, Young likely isn’t going to have much room to negotiate a big-time contract with a lot of years on it come the 2022 free agent cycle. But at least with the way he’s played for Donovan and the Bulls so far this season, he will definitely have some bargaining power given there’s some consistency to his game during the 2021-22 campaign.