While achieving success as a team is vitally important, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that so many members of the Chicago Bulls roster are playing for themselves as well. With this many players in a contract year, the Bulls will have plenty of tough questions to answer in the near future; a strong end to the season from any of these players could end up significantly impacting the front office’s decision-making in contract negotiations.
Although Chicago worked to get DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso, and Lonzo Ball inked to multi-year deals in the summer of 2021 and followed it up by signing Zach LaVine to a max extension in 2022, half of the remaining roster will be eligible to hit free agency this upcoming offseason.
Only LaVine, DeRozan, Ball, Caruso, Patrick Williams, and Dalen Terry are guaranteed to be on next year’s roster as it currently stands. That’s why the decisions the Bulls make this summer will be absolutely critical, as they’ll be forced to re-sign their key contributors if they wish to continue contending in the Eastern Conference.
The Chicago Bulls must retain these 3 key impending free agents if they wish to remain competitive next season.
3. Patrick Beverley
With nearly half of the roster set to hit free agency this summer, it may seem odd to prioritize bringing back a would-be 35-year-old veteran in Patrick Beverley. After all, the Bulls can’t expect Beverley to maintain this level of play forever, so it makes if some would like to see the team focus on retaining the young talent.
Fortunately, most of Beverley’s value to this team lies not in his actual on-court ability, but rather in what he’s been able to get out of his teammates. Virtually every player on the roster has looked better since Beverley joined the team, particularly Zach LaVine and Patrick Williams.
The Chicago Bulls would be wise to retain their newfound veteran leader in Patrick Beverley past this season.
LaVine himself has been particularly fond of the addition, even going so far as to liken him to former Bull Thaddeus Young and claim he’s been trying to recruit Beverley for the past few years now.
Zach LaVine said he's been trying to get Beverley to the Bulls for years: “He’s somebody you hate to play against but love as a teammate. I think we’ve been missing that since Thad was here — a vocal leader and somebody that is very out and open with how he thinks about things."
— Julia Poe (@byjuliapoe) February 23, 2023
Even if Beverley slides down to the second unit, I have no doubts about his ability to follow in Thad’s footsteps by adjusting and continuing to be a stabilizing presence off the bench for this roster. If Beverley is allowed to leave in free agency this summer, the Bulls will be right back where they were just two weeks ago. Without that vocal locker room leader to lead the way, the Bulls would almost certainly submit another spineless performance next season.
2. Coby White
If you’ve managed to tune into more than a few Chicago Bulls games this year, you’ve no doubt heard Stacey King sing Coby White‘s praises at every given opportunity. For that reason, I’ll leave the complimentary word salad for Coby to the man who does it best on the mic.
I’ll cut straight to the chase here — Coby White is a better basketball player right now than he’s even been before.
All too often, the Bulls have failed to develop their young talent just to watch them go thrive on a different team. We’re actually witnessing just that right now with Lauri Markkanen, Wendell Carter Jr., and Daniel Gafford. Fortunately, I believe Coby can be the exception to the rule here.
Coby White has improved too much this season for the Chicago Bulls to let him leave now.
As the leading scorer in North Carolina high school basketball history, White has always been trusted to be the primary offensive option for every team he’s ever played for before reaching the NBA. I don’t exactly blame him for taking some time to adapt to being a high-level role player instead of the guy for the Bulls.
Although his box score stats have considerably dipped this year, Coby’s actually improved at the margins and become a much more well-rounded player. His shot hasn’t even been as consistent as it was last season, but his improvements to his ball-handling, defense, and cutting down on turnovers and fouls have actually made him impact winning more than ever.
The advanced statistics favor these claims as well. White’s box plus/minus, win shares per 48 minutes, and value over replacement player stats are all at career-high levels. It’s also worth noting that these numbers have consistently improved with each season he’s spent in the league, indicating there’s still plenty of room for Coby to continue developing.
White’s lack of statistical success this season may actually even benefit Chicago when it comes to negotiating White’s new contract. If the Bulls can secure Coby on a team-friendly deal moving forward, I’d view that as a massive win for the front office.
1. Nikola Vucevic
In his first full season with the Bulls in 2020-21, things did not exactly go as planned for Nikola Vucevic. The big man suffered significant drops in efficiency from practically every area on the court, and he drew a lot of flak from the fanbase as he stumbled to his worst individual season since 2016-17.
Considering acquiring Vucevic in the first place cost the Bulls Wendell Carter Jr., the pick that became Franz Wagner, and another projected lottery pick in this year’s upcoming draft, it’s understandable why so many fans (including myself) would be frustrated with Vucevic’s performance. This wasn’t the All-Star center we were promised.
I’d hate to fall victim to the sunk-cost fallacy here, so entering the season I was entirely in support of accepting the bad decision and cutting ties with Vooch in the summer… until he started playing. This season, Vooch looks like an entirely different player and has been far more dependable and consistent.
Now that he’s playing like a top center in the NBA again, the Chicago Bulls should consider re-signing Nikola Vucevic.
There’s a night and day difference between the Vucevic of last year and what we’re watching now. His box plus/minus has skyrocketed from 0.9 to 3.0, and he’s on pace to achieve the second-highest win shares of his career — which is quite the achievement, considering the Bulls haven’t actually won all that many games this season.
Instead of just comparing Vucevic to his past self, however, let’s see how he statistically stacks up against the other centers around the league.
- Points: 7th
- Rebounds: 2nd
- Blocks: 22nd
- Three-Pointers: 4th
Nobody outside of Chicago is going to give Vucevic the credit he deserves, as the Bulls have struggled to win and even if they did, LaVine and DeRozan would likely be attributed the credit. But when looking at things objectively, Vucevic has been one of the league’s best centers this season. He’s accumulated enough raw stats to be compared to the NBA’s best while being the Bulls’ third option, while also achieving the most efficient true shooting season of his career.
At this point in his career, Vucevic says he’s made enough money to prioritize being on a winning team and pursuing a championship rather than taking the biggest offer possible. Whether or not the Bulls have done enough to convince Vooch a championship is a realistic goal for this team, well, that much remains to be seen.