Chicago Bulls: 3 reasons to re-sign Zach LaVine

3. Has not lost athleticism following ACL injury

When the Bulls acquired the trio of LaVine, Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen in the Jimmy Butler trade a year ago, the biggest question mark of the bunch was LaVine. Although he was having a career year with the Minnesota Timberwolves the season before, he appeared in just 47 games due to an ACL injury.

As many of you may recall, former MVP Derrick Rose sustained a similar injury back in 2012 and he was never able to play at the same level following that injury (and many others). With that in mind, Bulls fans could only wonder if LaVine was headed toward a similar fate. Thanks to a cautious approach, however, LaVine did eventually make his debut in mid-January.

While his overall numbers (more on that in a bit) didn’t blow anyone away, LaVine showed that he had not lost the athleticism that enabled him to win two Slam Dunk titles.

This was a big reason why the Bulls had little issue with shutting him down the last 14 games of the 2017-18 season because in their minds, LaVine passed the eye test with flying colors.