2018 NBA free agency grades: Bulls match Zach LaVine offer

The Chicago Bulls decided to match Sacramento’s $80 million offer for Zach LaVine, thus retaining the former dunk contest champion.

Entering the 2018 NBA free agency period, Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine would be a restricted free agent, meaning that the team from Illinois could wait and see how other teams valued their star guard before putting their offer on the table.

Last week, the Sacramento Kings offered Zach LaVine a four-year, $80 million deal, which he agreed to sign. After that, the Bulls had exactly 48 hours to decide whether they would match the offer set by the Kings or let LaVine walk. After careful consideration, the Bulls decided to match Sacramento’s offer, meaning they get to keep Zach LaVine for the next four seasons.

LaVine, 23, began his NBA career at Minnesota, forming a promising young core with Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns. He was a viable third option for the team, averaging 19 points per game during his last season for the Timberwolves. But the Wolves did not have enough to make the playoffs and decided to trade away the UCLA guard to the Bulls in order to acquire All-Star shooting guard, Jimmy Butler.

LaVine did not play for the most part of the 2017-18 NBA season, as he was recovering from a torn ACL, making it nothing but harder for the front office to make this decision. In 24 games, he averaged 16.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 27.3 minutes per game.

Even though this is a pretty good stat line, especially for a recovering player, the Bulls may have made a mistake when it comes to Zach LaVine for three main reasons. The first is that LaVine does not seem like a player you can build around and contend, even in the weak Eastern Conference. As if this wasn’t enough, health should be one of Chicago’s biggest concerns. Usually, a torn ACL is one of the most serious basketball injuries and not everyone fully recovers from an injury like this.

Now we come to the third reason why the Bulls might have made a mistake. Chicago now finally has a promising young core full of players that can shine. Lauri Markkanen, Wendell Carter Jr., and Kris Dunn all seem like players that can shape the Bulls into contenders sooner rather than later.

Entering next year’s free agency, had the Bulls let Zach LaVine walk away, they would have enough cap space for two max contracts, meaning they could go after guys like Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard and Kemba Walker all in one summer. Those are guys that would consider a young team in free agency where they lead the team to success. Instead, the Chicago Bulls decided to match Sacramento’s offer, thus limiting their options for the future.

This is all, of course, if Zach LaVine doesn’t prove that he is an All-Star caliber player. He may prove the doubters wrong as he slowly enters his prime years in Chicago. Only time will tell if the Bulls made the right move by bringing him back at that price.

Next: 2018 NBA free agency tracker: Grades for every deal so far

Grade: B-