The finale to the Chicago Bulls fan favorite tournament is finally here! Zach LaVine, Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, and Taj Gibson together comprise the final four players remaining in this competition, with Hinrich being the lone participant without a top-4 seed in the bracket.
Kirk wasn’t too far behind though, as he was ranked fifth in the pre-tournament seeds and thus is set to take on the top dog in LaVine. On the other side of things, our two and three seeds clash as Luol and Taj duke it out.
The Chicago Bulls fan favorite tournament concludes here as one player rises above the rest to lay claim to his crown.
Zach LaVine vs. Kirk Hinrich
Many fans (and even a fan page) wanted to see the beloved Hinrich rally and make a comeback victory, but it was all too little too late. LaVine stormed through and received over 62% of the vote, officially becoming the last guard standing in the competition.
Luol Deng vs. Taj Gibson
These two Bulls legends are so synonymous with early 2010s Chicago basketball that it’s almost impossible differentiating the two in a head-to-head matchup. In the end, however, Deng would eliminate his brother in arms and move on to the finals to match up against LaVine for the title.
This might feel like an impossible decision, but only one of these two Rose-era legends can continue on!
— Pippen Ain't Easy (@BullsBeatBlog) July 19, 2022
Fan Favorite Tournament: FINAL FOUR (2/2)
Zach LaVine vs. Luol Deng
It’s only right that our top two seeds should meet in the final match-up, as both LaVine and Deng made good on their seedings and obliterated the competition along the way. In fact, it was actually Deng that had accumulated the highest percentage of votes up to this point in the tournament, the risk of an upset was higher than ever here.
However, LaVine would hold fast and escape with 59% of the vote. This was his most narrow margin of victory in the tournament, but still enough to secure the title of Chicago Bulls fan favorite thanks to all of your votes. Interestingly enough, Deng only received 3.5% more of the vote than Hinrich did in his matchup against Zach.
https://twitter.com/BullsBeatBlog/status/1550210800786317317?s=20&t=LrDSDEEfz4x0hP56p0jd_w
Fresh off of two-consecutive All-Star appearances and signing the biggest contract in Chicago Bulls history, it makes a lot of sense why the fanbase was so ready to name LaVine the king. If he continues improving at this rate, soon enough he’ll finally get that All-NBA nod that would have disqualified him from this tournament in the first place.
Enjoy some of LaVine’s best plays from the 2021-22 season as he basks in this victory!
Thank you all for participating in this summer’s fan favorite tournament, make sure to follow the Pippen Ain’t Easy official Twitter page to receive more Chicago Bulls news and updates as we prepare to head into the 2022-23 season.