9:10pm: The Bulls plan to match the offer sheet, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. The cap hit for the Bulls will be $19.5MM annually, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets.
7:04pm: Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine has agreed a four-year, $80MM offer sheet from the Kings, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets. Chicago has 48 hours to match the offer for the restricted free agent.
The offer includes a full guarantee with no options, Michael Scotto of The Athletic tweets.
The Bulls made LaVine an offer, but not nearly for the amount Sacramento placed on the table, according to ESPN’s Marc Spears.
“I’m disappointed that I had to get an offer sheet from another team. But Sacramento stepped up and made a strong impression,” LaVine told Spears. “It appears that Sacramento wants me more than Chicago.”
Spears reports the offer as $78MM. In any case, Chicago will have to pony up to retain the talented wing.
LaVine averaged 16.7 PPG in 24 games last season after returning from a torn left ACL. He was traded last offseason by the Timberwolves in the Jimmy Butler blockbuster.
The Kings are the first rival suitor to make a concrete offer to a restricted free agent this summer.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Yes! Rudy Gay 2.0 has arrived in Sacramento. Better reserve your season tickets now Kings fans so you can have first dibs at playoff tickets. Bwahahahahaha!
But he can actually shoot 3’s, unlike Gay.
He didn’t last year.
Came back from a major injury. I’d say give him a little slack for being rusty.
No he can’t.
Averaged 2.6 made per game at 39% the year before last, and shot 39% the year before that (1.5 made per game). I’d say he’s in the range of being decent at 3’s.
Not so fast Bulls just matched
Not so fast the Bulls just matched
they can have him for 20mil
Yeah, that’s a crazy overpay for a guy that hasn’t proven he can come back from a pretty serious injury and wasn’t that good to begin with.
Another blunder on the lemming leaders garpax, trading butler is not the issue but having to give them your first rounder back in the trade is ludicriuos, BRILLIANT
They traded up, it wasn’t giving the pick back. Markannen will be worth it.
Agreed. Thought it was overblown with the media saying the Bulls shouldn’t have included the 16th pick. That pick was mostly useless. The draft was 8-9 deep with blue chippers. and the Bulls moved up to 7. Most Bulls fans didn’t care. Most Bulls fans have a long enough memory of drafting in a similar spot 4-5 times over the last decade and coming away with garbage.
He’s not a $20m per player, but the Kings have to overpay vs. others to attract players.
Please, kings knew bulls would match, it ties up cap space for a team that had a bunch.
What are the Kings going to do with LaVine?
They are not ready to contend!!!!
Plus to have that kind of money and when the Kings have stunk as bad as they have, the NBA should be ashamed for setting up such a system
SMH
What are the Bulls going to do with Lavine, by that standard? Ignore if you’re a Bulls fan… that’s a big pill, $20mil per…
Bulls fan here that won’t ignore this post!!!! The Bulls better let him walk. Star free agents leave to play with other stars. The Bulls have no stars. The best they can offer a star free agent is enough room to sign a second one. Lavine destroys that possibility. If they match this offer, they’ve guaranteed this rebuild will only lead to mediocrity.
Makes sense for the Kyrie and Butler rumors. Still not going to happen. Might have to settle for Wade and Bosh lol.
Or the over da hill Carmelo !!! Maybe Benny da bull can meet him at da airport with all the clowns dat are in charge
The Bulls gave up Jimmy Butler to get him
Now the Bulls get nothing in return?
Makes no sense.
They still have Dunn and Markkanen from that trade.
80 million in this market is insane…and I’d rather have one Marcus Smart than five Zach LaVines.
80 million in this market actually isn’t insane. It’s actually reasonable for a star-caliber (not superstar-caliber) player, like LaVine.
Star caliber? LaVine is a good player but star caliber is a stretch.
The potential is there. The athleticism is off the charts and he shoots 40% from 3 pt range now.
Potential isn’t the same as star caliber.
WOW! Really? Marcus Smart’s mom wouldn’t take him over Lavine. Anyway, the Bulls will match, they have plenty of space and he fits really well w/ Hoiberg’s system. It’s about 3-4 mil over per year that the Bulls hoped to get him at. I’m fine with a slight overpay. The Kings really left the Bulls w/ no choice.
Again, at the end of the day, he’ll eat up 3-4 mil of cap space annually than the Bulls had hoped for. Not a huge deal considering the Bulls basically print money, annually among the league leaders in profit. If Dunn continues to progress, Markkanen looks like a future star and now w/ Lavine locked up, I’m pretty happy with the Butler trade.
Bulls please let him go.
Hahaha GFY Zach, have fun in Sacramento. Without the dunk titles ur basically Rodney Hood. And that’s kind of an insult to Rodney Hood.
Should somebody tell Vlade that there is this position in the NBA called Small forward?
They have one. Marvin Bagley. Lol
He’s a power forward
Let him go! Sign Marcus Smart. All good
The Bulls need shooting and scorers, and LaVine can do both better than any other free agent out on the current market.
The Bulls knew it was a strong possibility they were going to have to pony up some big bucks for LaVine, so this shouldn’t come as a suprise to anyone.
Also, for those of you saying Marcus Smart is twice, or even more ridiculous, FIVE times the player Zach LaVine is, the two just aren’t even comparable players. That’s like comparing Tyreke Hill and Travis Kelce..
Given both LaVine and Smart only play half the game at a high level, so they do have that in common. Smart is an EXCELLENT defensive first, gritty, agitator, who is limited to being strictly a role player offensively..As for LaVine, first you have to remember, he’s recently coming back from a significant injury. One that really sapped him of his bounce, his abilities to drive hard and make cuts, and overall it effected his explosiveness in his game. Let’s not forget, his explosiveness was one of the assets that made LaVine so dynamic as a scorer..
So, last season he has to come back, and is also tasked with the HUGE weight and pressure of being the “centerpiece” in the Bulls’ return for Butler, a fan favorite and in his short Bulls tenure, Butler quickly became the face of the franchise.
So LaVine has that added mental pressure, he is coming back from a serious injury, and plus he is trying to regain his timing, his feel for his jumper, and trying to fit in his new team’s offense with his new teammates..
Being trading to a new team alone has caused several big-time players to struggle by itself, but add in coming back from an ACL injury, and I’m not spruced that LaVine struggled in his limited action returning to the court…
With a full off-season to get his timing back, get his feel back, and get his legs and body back in game shape, I’m expecting a big bounce back year for LaVine…
The Bulls should easily match the Kings offer, and LaVine should help cement their current core already in place…
That’s like comparing me to a janitor and you to a custodian! Or me a ghost and you a spirit!!!
Under no circumstances should the Bulls match this. They need shooters and scorers? That’s true of every team, but for a rebuilding team like the Bulls they need high draft picks and cap space. Lavine hurts both those things. His presence makes the Bulls a team picking in the 8-12 range. Losing him puts the Bulls in play for a top5 pick. Matching this offer puts the Bulls in line to have enough space for a single max FA next year. Letting him walk puts them in line for 2. And at a time when the best free agents move in pairs, you need the space for 2 or else you probably won’t get any.
$20m a year for 4 years on a post-ACL guy who can’t play any defense and kinda maybe might be able to shoot is nuts.
Unless you’re the Kings, who don’t have their 2019 pick and have a glut of bodies in the front court.
It’s an overpay but not insane for SAC.
It’s a very hard decision for CHI because he was the key asset for Butler. I’d actually let him go, keep your war chest ready for next year.
Are you related to him? Save the cap space for next summer.
Well said.The reactions to this are a bit over the top. LaVine is an explosive playmaker with range and his shooting was way down last year which isn’t unexpected since he missed much of the season with an injury. He is primed for a breakout, health permitting.
His defense needs work, no doubt, but he’s athletic enough to improve there or at least be adequate. Even if he doesn’t, is he really all that different than Devin Booker, who’s about to get paid a lot more?
Not to mention, Sac isn’t going to draw the top free agents, so they need to target players with upside. Plus it’s RFA, if the contract was inline to his current production the Bulls would easily match it.
He’s such a crap defender too. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that he’ll be better with more time removed after ACL surgery but 4 years and $80 mil is ridiculous. Bulls want to spend in 2019.
Oddly, they could be holding that cap room for the player they traded for him.
There’s always some team dumb enough to pay a guy like this and that team is typically the Sacramento Kings. Nearly 20 mil a year for a sub-par player, Sacramento always finds a way to sink lower and lower into their own misery.
Bulls matched the offer.
That was a quick match. You have to feel good about how the Bulls feel about you if you are LaVine if they match that quickly.
Yeah I think they believe he was worth it, they just wanted to make him find it on this market, because there’s no need to outbid themselves. I do kind of wonder if they could’ve gotten him at a slightly lower rate if they negotiated themselves, but who knows.
Yeah, I agree. I think they were hoping to sign him at 16-17 annually, so now it will cost 3-4 mil more per year, not a huge deal. That franchise prints money, when… IF they’re ready to contend, they’ll easily go into the luxury tax.
Great. The Bulls front office continues to be afraid of its own shadow and just destined themselves for another era of mediocrity. No team headlined by Zach Lavine is ever going to be a title contender.
This would have been a terrible deal for Sacramento, and it’s a pretty bad deal for the Bulls. I felt like $16-17 million per for him was the absolute max he should get, and in this market, maybe closer to $14-15 million.
…So smart move by Sacramento pulling a Portland and putting the pressure on the Bulls to match a bad contract
No. That would still be a dumb move by Sacramento. Why risk having to pay LaVine that much just to put pressure on another bad team in the other conference? What could they possibly gain from doing that?
They must have known they’d match
Then what was the point? Sounds like a waste of time
Portland did the same to Hibbert and Enes Kanter, which hurt Indiana and OKC by matching
Take the loss.
There you go. Bulls match offer.
So Garpax and Vlade are equally as ignorant?
Yeah you seem surprised…
Trade him to minny when he is eligible with a 1st rd pick for butler or wiggins..
The mediocrity continues. Is anyone surprised by the horrific GarOax decision.
Match the ridiculous offer and tie up cap space. Could of gotten Kyrie and Butler next year. Say bye bye to that idea. ☹️
Even if they whiffed on Kyrie and Butler, they’d have still been better off just trying to lose as many games as possible for a higher draft pick. A high draft pick could become a star. LaVine will not.
Couldn’t agree more
Think GarPax went to Sacramento with a sign and trade offer. Doubtful. That would be smart for a rebuild. Not a trait of PaxGar
Bulls matching is BS! He is not worth half that. Zach so lucky that someone gave him an absurd offer.
Obviously going with last year is a big overpay, by more than twice, but going on his last year in Minny, doesn’t seem so bad. We will have to wait & see how he recovers fully (or not) from his injury, to see if it was good or not, either way Sacramento did good, the decent thing, unlike Chicago.
BTW someone was saying Gar/Pax as inept, clueless & so on as Vlade… Well I would say at least Divac was a star as a player, who the heck are the other two, I know Paxson played a miserable career in the league, so at least show some respect for Divac, he was a very good center back in his day. Probably the first euro, not from college like Schrempf/Smits, to succeed in the NBA, that quite an achievement, clearly been a GM is different, but we can all show some respect, Gar/Pax are different, no need for it… anyway is Chicago, I’d rather Sacramento.
Pax was allamerican at notre dame and won 3 NBA titles starting– and Vlade 0. You could look things up.
If Lavine plays well this year, keeping in mind he’s probably the first option on offense, he could have some trade value come the deadline/offseason. Maybe the Lakers can’t move Deng this year, and then they sign an FA next year but come calling looking to move deng’s expiring deal with picks or players for an upgrade. They’ll have to replace KCP. Deng, Wagner, and whatever picks they feel would be fair for Lavine would work salary wise, and make sense for both teams. Bulls could also still work out a sign and trade with Boston/Minnesota because they could open up cap space for one, then s&t for the other.
This contract wont have trade value
Allen crabbe got traded. It’s essentially the same deal for a more talented scorer.
The Kings have 17 Mil in cap space to use. They have Randolph and Temple off the books next year. Yes it is a slight overpay but you have to overpay for restricted FA. It is good when other teams give contracts to RFA’s it keeps the league in check. I hope Marcus Smart gets an offer and I am huge Celtics fan.
Why would a reasonably desirable franchise like the Bulls take away from their summer 2019 cap space? This signing makes the DeAndre, overpay of McDermott, and overpay of Exum look like smart deals. I’d rather have an overpaid Exum any day than an overrated Lavine. This guy doesn’t help you win basketball games.
I’d rather have LaVine’s contract than THJ’s.
x%sure I usually enjoy most of your comments & agree with most (except Booker) but that was just a lazy & lousy comment you did. To start I was meaning NBA career, I really don’t care about college, not all-american get even drafted. But then coming with 3 to 0 rings, that is very lousy, to me rings mean nothing, so by your opinion Pax is better than Olajuwon as he only had 2 rings… that is not even serious. I know Divac was not Olajuwon but he was always a very important 2nd/3rd option for all the teams he played, Lakers, Charlotte, Sacramento… anyway my point is that his career was more similar to Olajuwon, than Pax was even closer to Divac’s. So please no one knows/cares about Pax’s career, while Divac was a phenomenon, as I said the first euro to really succeed in the league without been to college, he was a dominant player, I cannot believe how you, as smart as I think you are, or anyone can really even try to compare them, he was a stretch 5, could shoot, great vision, the man could ball, not sure of him as a GM, but as a player real good, while Pax who? 3 rings, he didn’t won them, he just was in the team that happen to won them.
Um…Paxson was pretty integral to those first three Bulls championships. He wasn’t a better player than Divac, but you’re the person unreasonably dismissing a pretty significant NBA career.
Divac plateaued and did not take the final steps. The phrase for him was, he learns quickly, but then he forgets quickly. Also the Sacto fans were obnoxious to visiting players, so I was unable to enjoy their achievements at the time.
I did root for Divac when Shaq would do his “big man gets to get a start at the basket” sham and knock him back. People said Divac flopped but Shaq charged. I think Divac was better than him.
Divac was better than Paxson too but that, like winning titles, is only part of the deal. You said Paxson had a “miserable career”. Those are not the right words; he’s just a lesser talent like nearly everyone else. It’s not even the point when discussing their executive actions. Why bring up their playing careers in the first place? Are you english second language? Look up miserable. Paxson found winning grooves and enjoyed the ride.