NBA Free Agency: Grading all 30 teams on trades and signings

NBA Free Agency Grades: Chicago Bulls

Signings: Zach LaVine (5 years, $215.16 million); Andre Drummond (2 years, $6.56 million); Derrick Jones Jr. (2 years, $6.56 million); Goran Dragic (1 year, $2.9 million)

Trades: None

Last summer was about remaking the Chicago Bulls; this summer was ensuring the centerpiece stuck around. Zach LaVine flirted with free agency but was probably only leveraging the Bulls into offering the full five-year max. Last time he hit free agency, he had to sign an offer sheet with the Sacramento Kings to get paid; this time around he publicly hinted at meeting with other teams to get paid.

The other deals were around the margins. Andre Drummond is a very solid backup center and a good complement as Nikola Vucevic’s substitute. Derrick Jones Jr. is hyper-athletic, but his defensive skill has lagged behind potential, and offensively he is little more than a dunker.

Goran Dragic is a great signing as this team’s third point guard, but with all of their backcourt depth it’s a surprise he signed there and not another place such as Dallas to team up with his fellow Slovenian Luka Doncic. It may be a sign that Lonzo Ball is not expected to be healthy to start the season, which would be more impactful than any of these role-player signings.

Retaining LaVine was important and he is likely going to be worth this contract, so that gets solid marks. Every other deal is low-cost and very reasonable money for the players signed. The Bulls have larger questions about their ceiling to answer, and should have used their full midlevel exception on someone to help play at the 4, but they didn’t make a bad signing.

Grade: B