Chicago Bulls: 3 threats to sign Daniel Theis in free agency

A bright spot for the Chicago Bulls this season was the play of center Daniel Theis after he was acquired ahead of the NBA trade deadline. He proved to be a steal at the price the Bulls paid for him while the team as a whole failed to meet expectations.

Now Arturas Karnisovas and the front office will have to determine how much money they can pay him and still make the necessary improvements to the rest of the roster. He’s earned a significant raise and shouldn’t have trouble finding a deal worth at least $10 million annually.

Given the Bulls salary cap situation and plethora of needs, it’s easy to see how another team could enter next season with Theis on their roster. If the market develops favorably for the Bulls, there should be no question about bringing him back.

Unfortunately, anything north of $10 million means the market did not develop in a favorable fashion for the Bulls. If they give Theis too much money they will have a difficult time filling their other areas of need.

Now, anything is possible, technically. Maybe the Bulls will get creative and increase their cap space more than I’m expecting them to. Even if that were to happen and the Bulls were aggressive in pursuing his return couldn’t be guaranteed.

There are going to be teams with significant interest in Theis. The Bulls are going to be hoping no one overpays him just to ensure they lure him away. If the money between the Bulls and certain other franchises is that close, he could very well lean toward a Bulls return.

Either way, he is the type of NBA player that any team would benefit from having on their roster. That makes the market for him extremely interesting. While a long list of teams make sense from a talent perspective alone, not everyone can pay Theis what he will be looking for.

These teams make a lot of sense as suitors for Theis and the Bulls should consider them all legitimate threats.