Zach LaVine Is Back, But Chicago Bulls’ 2022 Free Agency Period A Dud So Far

The Chicago Bulls were a starring part of the opening frenzy last free agency, agreeing to a sign-and-trade deal with Lonzo Ball so fast they got docked a second-round pick after a tampering investigation. Shortly after, the Bulls nabbed Alex Caruso from the Los Angeles Lakers and then got DeMar DeRozan in a sign-and-trade with the San Antonio Spurs a day later. A massive roster overhaul was executed in a matter of days.

The 2022 free agency period has been a totally different story for Chicago. There was no splash signing or trade right out of the gate. There wasn’t even a Zach LaVine deal right away, though that would come Friday to the tune of a five-year, $215.2 million max deal with a player option on the fifth year. The delay led to some speculation about what could be going on, but in the end there was truly never much concern about LaVine taking his talents elsewhere.

“Chicago is my home,” LaVine told K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “I really started making my name here. And I want to continue what I helped start here as well.

“I’m extremely excited. I appreciate the fans. And I’m ready to continue this winning process that we have going.”

Bringing back LaVine was the No. 1 priority for the Bulls, but they also had clear needs on the roster that needed to be addressed. Unfortunately, not much has been done to address those needs, and as of right now there isn’t much signaling that much else will be done.

Chicago did agree to a two-year, $6.6 million deal with Andre Drummond on the first day of free agency, hours after the initial rush passed. The 28-year-old Drummond is an upgrade at backup center over the likes of Tony Bradley (who’s back on his player option) and Tristan Thompson (who’s gone), but he’s not much of a rim protector anymore and isn’t bringing much versatility to the center position behind Nikola Vucevic. Drummond is still a dominant rebounder and a decent passer, so it’s not like this is a bad signing, it’s just not one that’s all that inspiring when there were younger options with more upside out there such as Isaiah Hartenstein and Mo Bamba, among others.

The Bulls seemingly didn’t want to offer those guys what it would take to sign them, though. They used a small portion of their mid-level exception to sign Drummond instead of just signing him to the minimum (his minimum was not much less than what he got), while giving him a player option in the process.

Chicago also had its eyes on Danilo Gallinari as a shooter and was reportedly willing to offer the rest of the mid-level exception (a little over $7 million left) over two years, but the Italian decided to go with the proven title contender in the Boston Celtics. The Celtics gave the veteran forward a two-year, $13 million deal, which is slightly less than what the Bulls could have offered. One has to wonder if Gallinari was ever truly close to signing in Chicago or if he was just using them as leverage to get the offer he wanted from Boston.

After missing out on Gallinari, the Bulls strangely brought back Derrick Jones Jr. on a two-year, $6.6 million deal with a player option. Jones did some nice things last season and played hurt as well, but the assumption was he wouldn’t be back because of his lack of shooting and the overall roster construction. But now he’s back as the 14th guaranteed contract, though Chicago allegedly didn’t use any of the mid-level on him to return.

This currently leaves the Bulls with one guaranteed contract left to offer while sitting about $3.5 million below the luxury tax line. They have over $7 million left remaining of that mid-level to offer and a $5 million trade exception that expires next week, but there would have to be other maneuvering done to use all of both because of the roster situation.

The question now is if Chicago has anything significant up its sleeve or if there will just be one more cheap signing that keeps them below the tax and then that will be it for the offseason. If it’s the latter, or if they just leave that 15th spot open for flexibility later, it will be an extremely disappointing way to go about business as a number of other Eastern Conference rivals make significant moves around them.

The Celtics made the NBA Finals this past season but added Gallinari and Malcolm Brogdon (in a total heist of a trade) without giving up any of their top rotation players. James Harden is taking less money from the Philadelphia 76ers in order to add key role players in P.J. Tucker and Danuel House Jr. The Atlanta Hawks traded for Dejounte Murray. The New York Knicks got Jalen Brunson and Hartenstein while bringing back Mitchell Robinson. The Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors are being mentioned as players for Kevin Durant. The Milwaukee Bucks are running it back with all their key players. The Brooklyn Nets are obviously a mess, but we’ll see how they navigate the Durant and Irving debacle.

The Bulls running it back with just a few minor additions would fit the theme of Arturas Karnisovas’ “continuity” spiels leading up to free agency That doesn’t make it any less disappointing that it looks like they won’t even be using their full arsenal of avenues to improve, all while likely ducking the luxury tax. History is not on this organization’s side when it comes to paying the tax, but there was hope things would be different this time after the win-now moves of the past couple of seasons. Though it’s also worth pointing out that the past trade deadline was also quiet, with the Thompson addition after the fact the only move made. This combo of inactivity only adds to the frustration.

Now, it’s still only a couple of days into free agency and the narrative can still change. However, the free agency pool is drying up and the Bulls don’t seem to be in the mix for anything notable. They missed out on Rudy Gobert, which is fair given the crazy haul the Minnesota Timberwolves gave up to get him, and Durant is a pipe dream. Deandre Ayton probably isn’t happening either.

There are some other interesting potential trade targets out there like Myles Turner, John Collins and Jakob Poeltl, but it’s unclear what it will take to get them. In terms of free agents, names like T.J. Warren and Martin twins could be targets, but there are concerns about Warren’s nagging foot injury and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Martins stay with their current teams (Heat and Hornets). Wayne Ellington wouldn’t be a bad veteran 3-point shooting option. Maybe the Bulls should just sign Carmelo Anthony.

As doom and gloom as this all may seem, Chicago should still be a good team next season even if nothing else of consequence happens, at least given reasonable health. Injuries nuked the Bulls in 2021-22 after they started 39-21, and the hope is better health plus development from youngsters Patrick Williams, Ayo Dosunmu and Coby White, if he’s still around, will help. There’s a lot riding on Williams in particular in Year 3 after Chicago was reportedly hesitant to include him in major trade offers. His progress and the health of the roster could very well wind up making or breaking next season.

When it comes to health, concerns do remain about Ball as he rehabs his nagging knee injury. He has had injury issues throughout his career, too, so relying on him to stay healthy could prove problematic. But Ball is just so important to this team as one of the few two-way players, if not the only one, that they simply have to rely on him. In addition to everything else he brings to the table, Ball’s volume 3-point shooting is especially important on a roster clearly lacking in shooting prowess, which hasn’t been addressed this offseason. Free agency aside, incoming rookie Dalen Terry seems like a fun player and could be great, but he’s not helping the shooting problem. At least not yet. This probably helps explain why White is still on the team.

There are still some bombshells left to drop around the NBA this summer. If the Bulls aren’t involved in anything else, their offseason will have truly been a disappointing dud.