Zach Lavine: Offered 4/80 from Kings update p26 Bulls Matched

[Dresden]

Bulls will most likely match this offer. I know it's $78M but this is what happens when you try to play hard ball. If you didn't want to overpay they could off just traded him for an asset. Maybe someone like Buddy Hield.

Not sure why SAC would do that. Hield is much cheaper, and Lavine would have been an RFA.

I think the Bulls played this just right- they tested him out last year, got to see that he wasn't all that good, and thus saved themselves from having to overcommit to someone on a long term contract. If they could have retained him on the cheap, great. If someone offered him a huge deal like this, you let him go. Not that big of a loss.

This talk about all his "talent" just means that he occasionally can make a spectacular play. Big deal- so could Jamal Crawford. It's consistency and efficiency that matter in the nba, and he was neither.

[contestedlayups]

At this price I'll back his bags myself.

It's a steep price, no doubt, but he was the centerpiece of the Butler deal, and it would really suck to only get to see one year of a guy who was just coming off ACL surgery.

I also don't think the Bulls should be letting young players they value walk for nothing at the beginning of their rebuild. If they have to overpay some, so be it, IMO. The free agency game has never worked for them, and probably won't as long as Forman/Paxson are there, unfortunately.

I'd much rather save the cap space so that we can sign two max free agents in 2019 or 20, than waste in a guy who has never been a net positive on the court, and is coming off an ACL.

And when was the last time the Bulls signed a max free agent from another team...??? Not happening bud. Bulls match this since they can't convince anyone to come to or stay with this franchise.

[madvillian]

yeah in my opinion Zach's comments are clearly trying to straddle The Divide between the two teams as best as he can. Make no mistake his agent came up with that. I don't think it's offensive to either team. I don't see anything wrong with the comments. I do see things wrong with his horrific shot selection and inability to know where the oceans of the world are.

His girlfriend just sent a tweet mocking Nick Freidell.

It's clear Zach and his camp have been frustrated and are clapping back now.

How incredibly petty of them imo. You just GOT PAID FOR NOTHING. YOU ARE ONE OF THE MOST OVERPAID PLAYERS IN THE LEAGUE STFU AND TAKE THE MONEY.

Trashing Chicago, the team that took a chance on him (and saw that he sucked mostly) is such poor form.

[BR0D1E86]

So, we end up with Lauri, Dunn and cap space. I can't see all-star talent coming here for the next years. I say the tank is strong in us

Since Lavine’s teams are worse with him off the floor than in it, matching would be the tanking move. When you’re worse than piling up 20 million dollars and burning it, you’re not good.

Plus, we should be tanking for one more season anyway.

[Chicago-Bull-E]

On the bright side - Nwaba then should be coming back right?

Where's the bright side in that?

Kings are one more team without cap space now. Bulls can have a lot of power from here on out through the trade deadline. Only them and Hawks with serious room.

[JohnnyTapwater]

Bulls will most likely match this offer. I know it's $78M but this is what happens when you try to play hard ball. If you didn't want to overpay they could off just traded him for an asset. Maybe someone like Buddy Hield.

[Costa78]

The consensus seems to be that its too much to match that offer. Is a S&T a possibility or not now that the offer sheet has been signed? Zach seems bitter about taking his talents to Sac Town tho...

[Herrdoktor33]

They can't let him go for nothing

[Dresden]

yeah in my opinion Zach's comments are clearly trying to straddle The Divide between the two teams as best as he can. Make no mistake his agent came up with that. I don't think it's offensive to either team. I don't see anything wrong with the comments. I do see things wrong with his horrific shot selection and inability to know where the oceans of the world are.

His girlfriend just sent a tweet mocking Nick Freidell.

It's clear Zach and his camp have been frustrated and are clapping back now.

I think he saw himself as a max player, and now reality is hitting him in the face. His only choice is take 20 mil a year playing for the Kings. Good luck.

[SensiBull]

F Zach.

Lauri doesn't seem to thrilled about standing on the perimeter wide open for a three while Zach tries to slash through a triple-team.

[Ronny_G]

Feels like a good time to jump into the conversation. I would like to know what our alternative/s would be if we don't match before deciding. Would we sign another FA or just carry the cap space? Smart and Hood appear to be the only starting caliber guards remaining in FA. I'm not sure either is worth locking up long term. Tough call but I think we have to match.

[Payt10]

Read on Twitter

For once, I actually agree with KC.

[WestsideResider]

No way do I even consider matching this. Haven’t seen enough out of Zack to warrant that kind of money. Have fun playing for the Kings

[League Circles]

yeah in my opinion Zach's comments are clearly trying to straddle The Divide between the two teams as best as he can. Make no mistake his agent came up with that. I don't think it's offensive to either team. I don't see anything wrong with the comments. I do see things wrong with his horrific shot selection and inability to know where the oceans of the world are.

His girlfriend just sent a tweet mocking Nick Freidell.

It's clear Zach and his camp have been frustrated and are clapping back now.

How incredibly petty of them imo. You just GOT PAID FOR NOTHING. YOU ARE ONE OF THE MOST OVERPAID PLAYERS IN THE LEAGUE STFU AND TAKE THE MONEY.

Trashing Chicago, the team that took a chance on him (and saw that he sucked mostly) is such poor form.

where in the world did he trash Chicago? He literally said he was disappointed he had to go get an offer sheet with another team. That explicitly means that he wants to remain in Chicago and he hopes they will match. All he did was give the Kings a little bit of credit saying that they stepped up with a bigger offer which they did. I am honestly puzzled why people are so offended by his comment. That said he sucks and we should definitely not match this offer.

[aguifs]

So, we end up with Lauri, Dunn and cap space. I can't see all-star talent coming here for the next years. I say the tank is strong in us

if it makes you feel any better Butler's best years are behind him and he's stuck with Thibs in Minny on a 1st round loser. The trade was good. The best player turned out to be Lauri, that's fine. The Bulls got a 2nd or 3rd banana on a contender. Now they need to find #1, time to tank again. Maybe that guy is Carter, but almost certainly not.

Keep tanking, you got a great shot to find a #1 guy next year, either in the draft or FA or trade.

I'm ok with tanking. But will accept it? They can't even decide to tank. We know exactly what happened this season

[League Circles]

Read on Twitter

For once, I actually agree with KC.

What momentum is he referring to? We got worse as the year went on.

[Red8911]

This dude's entire entourage is trash. Enjoy the hills of NoCal dude with your GF.

Agreed,his girlfriend is hot but she should shut up and not get involved with this stuff. I hope friedel responds to her lol.Lavine himself in his mind thinks he’s some kind of superstar,but hey he just got what he wanted and got overpaid without even earning it.

[Grodoboldo]

Kaaaaaaaangz!

Yeah, no thanks, have a good career, Zach!

[IrishBeatdown]

Is it not a warning sign that the worst organization in the league just offered a bloated contract no one else was willing to put up? And you guys want to match it?

I'm done here.

[JimmyButler21]

The Bulls were better when LaVine wasn't on the court last year so how is re-signing him keeping the rebuild's momentum going? If that's the case, they should have kept Mirotic.