Early stars to watch for the Chicago Bulls in free agency: Mike Conley
Another potentially appealing free agent target for Karnisovas and the Bulls this summer that could be difficult to get away from his current team is the veteran star Utah Jazz point guard Mike Conley. I’ve long been on the side of the Bulls trying to sign Conley if he’s made available in this cycle of free agency. That just depends on how much the Jazz are willing to sign him for this offseason.
The common school of thought holds that the Jazz are going to look around a three-year contract worth in the ballpark of $70-$80 million in total for Conley this offseason.
If the Bulls were given the chance to take a swing at Conley, it’s not out of the question that this front office would feel that he’s worth an average annual value of around $23-$25 million over the course of two or three years. Conley just had one of his best seasons in the NBA with a very good regular season team in the Jazz.
Nabbing his first career All-Star selection this year, Conley does look like he still has some prominent seasons left in him at the age of 33. The Fayetteville, AK, native and former Ohio State Buckeyes star guard Conley would also fill a plethora of needs that head coach Billy Donovan has in his starting unit at the moment.
If something were to fall through with the Bulls’ pursuit of the New Orleans Pelicans restricted free agent point guard Lonzo Ball this summer, then going after someone like Conley makes a lot of sense. It would be a lofty goal to sign Conley, but definitely an option worth considering if the Bulls are driven to that point.