The Bulls won't be major players this summer, but they still have an itinerary to follow to keep the rebuild moving in the right direction. How much action will we see from them in the coming weeks?
Well, here's a glimpse of their roster situation:
GUARANTEED CONTRACTS
- Robin Lopez- $14.35M
- Omer Asik- $11.28M
- Cristiano Felicio- $8.47M
- Lauri Markkanen- $4.53M
- Justin Holliday- $4.38M
- Kris Dunn- $4.22M
- Cameron Payne- $3.26M
- Jerian Grant- $2.63M
- Bobby Portis- $2.49M
- Denzel Valentine- $2.28M
- Wendell Carter Jr.- $4.4M
- Chandler Hutchison- $1.97M
- Sean Kilpatrick- $2.05M
- Paul Zipser- $1.54M
- Zach LaVine
- David Nwaba
- Noah Vonleh
With Kilpatrick in the fold, that leaves two open roster spots and more than $35M to spend. The biggest question for the Bulls, which has been discussed ad nauseum, is what to do with restricted free agent Zach LaVine.
Lavine responded to this tweet, making it pretty obvious he doesn't agree with what Friedell, and possibly the Bulls, think he's worth.
The Atlanta Hawks have joined the Sacramento Kings as an interested bidder for LaVine. If more teams start to show interest, his price tag will rise and that's the worst-case scenario for the Bulls this offseason. Ideally, the Bulls will be able to sign LaVine at the $15M a year price tag that they value him at and retain David Nwaba at $4-5M a season. That maxes out the roster with $15M of cap space leftover while keeping the core intact. Zach LaVine is a mystery, but high risks sometimes yield high rewards. Keeping LaVine in Chicago should be priority #1 for the Bulls this summer.
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