Chicago Bulls biggest questions heading into the offseason: What will it take to dump Al-Farouq Aminu’s contract?
The Bulls have a lot of cap space questions that need to be answered before they can start giving their roster the fine-tuning it so desperately needs. Some of these cap-related questions are naturally more difficult to resolve than others.
The Bulls have to be very creative in order to give themselves significant flexibility in free agency. The one player they have under contract that without a doubt they do not want to pay the salary of is Al-Farouq Aminu.
Aminu was included in the Vooch deal at the deadline and it was inevitable from that moment that the Bulls would be hoping to move off his contract this offseason.
The veteran wing is set to make $10,183,800 million once he officially opts into the final year of his contract. At that point, the Bulls will be looking to move him so they can instead spend that money on players that can help them win games.
Aminu struggled to get on the court for the Magic last season before being sent to the Bulls where he once again couldn’t force himself into a spot in the rotation. Given how bad both teams were last year, it’s hard to see how Aminu would suddenly be an impact player worth that salary this year.
Where it gets trickier is deciding what price is worth paying to convince another team to take on Aminu for the final year of his contract. Just over $10, 000, 000 M for one season is not a contract that will be overly difficult to flip.
It is more than enough to make rival teams expect solid compensation for eating the contract. The Bulls already began chipping away at their draft capital when they made the move for Vooch and Aminu in the first place.
They must now be even more deliberate and strategic with any draft assets they are willing to move.