Chicago Bulls: 5 potential free agency targets in 2018

2. Will Barton

The next guy on my free agency list is Will Barton – a player the Bulls are already somewhat familiar with.

Barton heads into free agency having played some of the best basketball in his career thus far. In 81 games for the Denver Nuggets last season, his averages included 15.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists per contest on 45.2 percent shooting from the field.

Taking into consideration that the Bulls are in the market for more perimeter shooting, I’m sure they are aware of the fact that Barton knocked down 37 percent of his looks from downtown and that he was in the running for the Sixth Man of the Year award as well.

For most of his career, Barton has been utilized as a spark plug scorer of the bench, but last season he proved that he could be effective in a larger role as well. In 40 appearances as a starter, Barton averaged 17.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per outing on shooting splits of .476/.404/.872.

This includes the final 13 games of the season when the Nuggets were making a late-season push for the playoffs. During that stretch, he put up 19 points per contest while shooting 40 percent from long range.

Similar to Evans, Barton is a 2-guard who can do a little bit of everything and he has proven he can be productive in whatever role he’s placed in. Barton earned a shade over $3.5 million last season and if the Nuggets aren’t willing to pony up to retain him, I have only three words for the Bulls: Pay the man!