JULY 21ST: Hinrich and the Bulls have made the deal official, the team announced.
“Kirk has always been a big part of creating the professional culture we want day in, day out surrounding our club,” Bulls GM Gar Forman said in the team’s statement. “He helps our team in so many ways, and Kirk had other opportunities elsewhere, but we are very happy he chose to remain in a Bulls uniform.”
JULY 13TH: 8:14pm: David Aldridge of NBA.com (on Twitter) has the specifics. It’s a two-year, $5.6MM deal using the room exception and it includes a player option on year two.
4:06pm: The Bulls are set to re-sign Kirk Hinrich, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com (on Twitter). The deal is more than the veteran’s minimum but less than he was offered elsewhere, according Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com (on Twitter). The Hornets and Jazz were among Hinrich’s other suitors.
Earlier today, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter) reported that even though the Hornets have been pursuing Hinrich, the belief was that he’d still wind up back in Chicago.
In 73 games (61 starts) last season for the Bulls, Hinrich averaged 9.1 PPG and 3.9 APG in 29 minutes per contest. Hinrich has put up a 10.8 PER over the last two seasons, a far cry from the 17.0 PER he put up in his best season for the Bulls (2006-07).