NBA Halloween: Playing trick-or-treat with each team’s early season trend
Chicago Bulls
Zach LaVine will live up to his criticized contract: Treat
People forget this because of his injury history and the rust he showed in limited time last season coming off that ACL tear, but Zach LaVine was heading toward go-to scoring territory during his last healthy season, when he averaged 18.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game on .459/.387/.836 shooting splits with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
LaVine could always do more than dunk, but with Lauri Markkanen sidelined, he’s completely shaken off the cobwebs as the Chicago Bulls‘ go-to scorer. He’s obliterating his career high in scoring with 28.1 points per game, but he’s also chipping in 5.0 rebounds and 3.1 assists a night on .519/.386/.821 shooting splits.
Zach LaVine posts 32 PTS, 5 AST in the @chicagobulls W, giving him his 4th straight game with 30+ points! #BullsNation #KiaTipOff18 pic.twitter.com/vK3jcAwyes
— NBA (@NBA) October 25, 2018
Seven games is a small sample size, but LaVine has reached 30 points in four of those seven contests already. The defense is still a problem, and it grows exponentially worse when he shares the floor with Jabari Parker, but Bulls fans should be feeling more comfortable with the contract he earned over the summer.