The Kings, who were said to have interest in Zach LaVine before free agency officially began, may still be eyeing the restricted free agent, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
During a conversation with colleague Bobby Marks on his podcast, Wojnarowski suggested on Wednesday that LaVine may be the best bet of the remaining restricted free agents to receive a lucrative offer sheet. According to Woj, the Kings have been “pretty serious” about LaVine and still have approximately $18-20MM in cap room to make an offer, if they so choose.
The Bulls still have plenty of cap flexibility and could comfortably match a four-year, $80MM offer for LaVine. However, an offer sheet in that range would put some pressure on the Bulls, who reportedly preferred to bring back their RFA guard on an average annual salary closer to $14-16MM. Given the tepid market for restricted free agents so far, Chicago may have been hoping to get an even more team-friendly deal.
LaVine is one of several notable restricted free agents who has yet to reach a contract agreement so far, joining Clint Capela, Jabari Parker, Marcus Smart, and Jusuf Nurkic, among others. It’s not clear if the Kings are considering offer sheets for any of those other players — the team was reportedly eyeing Parker earlier in free agency, but he may no longer be a Sacramento target.
LaVine can dunk…limited otherwise. Looks like the Exit sign is large for Minnesota and Cleveland. Thibs has to motivate instead of intimidate. Stop playing favorites with butler and “his guys”.
Lavine can also shoot dude. He’s got one of the prettiest releases in all of the NBA.
What does Cleveland, Thibs, and Minnesota have to do with any of this?? ..
I feel like I’m completely missing what you’re even talking about…
The article was about the Kings, LaVine, and Chicago..
Exactly. Cleveland is in the worst position you can be in (similar to the Knicks a few years back) capped out with a lottery team. The difference is, NO ONE wants to go to Cleveland, the armpit of the Midwest. They’ll struggle to get over the hill vets to even take their MLE. Minnesota, over the cap as well, they won’t be signing offer sheets for any of the top RFAs.
I can see the Bulls matching pretty much anything short of a max offer sheet on Lavine. They have a really nice young core and the cap space to keep it together, they might even go after Jabari, the hometown kid, if they believe he is healthy AND if they believe he can play the 3. His lateral quickness on the defensive end might be an issue, but he has really improved his 3pt % the last couple of years. We’ll see
What do you mean by “capped out”? Did you know James left? Their roster is relatively cheap right now, like your worthless opinions.
Will Knicks ever be relevant again? The rumor about butler/Irving is just that. Maybe new coach helps?
The answer to your question is no, the Knicks won’t be relevant again … at least
any time soon. Jimmy Butler and Kyrie Irving aren’t going to the Knicks next year.
Sadly, the Knicks haven’t been relevant and won’t be anytime soon. I think the last time they were relevant, Jordan’s Bulls were routinely knocking them out of the playoffs in the 90s. The hiring of Isiah Thomas and later Phil to run things only set them back further. It’s good for the NBA for the Knicks to be good… or at least somewhat good. Hopefully that happens at some point.
I thought the Butler/Irving rumor was them teaming up in Chicago??
I’ve heard both Chicago and NY.
It wasn’t anywhere… the rumor was simply that they want to team up. Reporters in Chicago and Ny (and fans of each team) filled in the rest of it by themselves.
I agree with all in ad…
La Vine , I’ve never been impressed with, very limited in his game.
Knicks, wait n see…..
The NBA has a cap. Wasting that cap space on non-stars – especially when you don’t have a star on your roster – negatively impacts your ability to bring in stars.
The Bulls beat case scenario right now is for Lavine to play on the QO. They’d then have max money to make a legit run at both Butler and Irving while also being able to re-sign Lavine using his bird rights.
If the Bulls were to appease you, they’d have enough money for Butler or Irving. And since they want to go to the same team, you’d put yourself in position to sign neither of them.
And why? Because you lack patience? Because you lack common sense? Is it is just because you lack knowledge of how the cap or RFA works?
The Bulls can afford to wait and see if Lavine gets an offer from another team before making a decision. If he signs elsewhere, they can match if they want. If they signed him now, they’d do so by winning a bidding war against themselves.