Chicago Bulls: 3 free agent targets worth overpaying for

Chicago Bulls free agent targets worth overpaying for: Kawhi Leonard

The grand prize free agent target for about every team this summer, if he comes available on the open market, is the Los Angeles Clippers superstar forward Kawhi Leonard. The former San Antonio Spurs star and two-time NBA Champion could opt-out of the final year of his current contract with the Clippers if he’s not happy with what’s going on in LA.

It is true that the Clippers have largely underachieved over the course of the past two years. A change in head coach did help the Clippers get one step further in the postseason, but they still fell short of the NBA Finals this season at the hands of the Phoenix Suns. And that was largely due to the knee injury that Kawhi suffered in the second round.

However, if Kawhi does hit the free agent market this summer then just about every team around the NBA is likely to come knocking at his door. He would command a max-contract level price tag just about anywhere he could sign. And if that place he wanted to sign was with the Bulls, by some miracle, then Karnisovas should obviously do whatever it takes to free up that cap space.

The fact of the matter is that if Kawhi does hit the free agent market this summer, it seems like his first considerations would likely be teams like the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat that might be able to contend for a title right away with him in the mix. But it’s hard to argue that a core trio of LaVine, Vooch, and Leonard, could not contend for a title.

Also, imagine what the defensive potency would look like for the Bulls with a starting unit that features forwards like Williams and Leonard.