In an interesting plot twist, the Chicago Bulls are now committed to keeping a player they’ve been trying to trade for forever.
It’s business as usual in the NBA, but that doesn’t make it easy. Toggling back and forth between franchise centerpiece and widely publicized trade bait has been Zach LaVine’s life lately.
The Bulls made it clear after last season that they’d be prioritizing a new contract for DeMar DeRozan over the summer, which spelled the end of LaVine’s time in Chicago (if it hadn’t already been made clear).
As June progressed and the chances of retaining DeRozan began to dissipate, the Bulls’ brass (led by executive Artūras Karnišovas) made increasingly desperate attempts to offload LaVine. Chicago failed to do so and lost DeRozan in the process.
LaVine sat back and watched his team trying to deal him, only to find that no one was interested.
To no one’s surprise, such an experience has culminated in a “shattered” relationship between LaVine and the Bulls, according to reports.
Chicago completely botched the LaVine situation, dating back to last summer when it allegedly first started on attempts to move him. By continually coming up empty on a deal — and continually returning for further attempts — the Bulls have played a sorry role in diminishing LaVine’s value over the last calendar year.
For Chicago, it’s time to make up with LaVine and concoct some creative new narrative promoting his place on the team in 2024-25.
Karnišovas understands the assignment, as evidenced by his comments on Sunday.
According to a report released Sunday night by K.C. Johnson, Bulls insider for NBC Sports Chicago, Karnišovas fully expects LaVine to be healthy and ready to go for Chicago at the commencement of training camp.
“We expect Zach being fully healthy,” Karnišovas said, per Johnson. “And he is healthy. I think he can help this group next year. He’s been professional … We expect him to be with us at the start of training camp.”
It’s difficult not to interpret Karnišovas’s comments pessimistically. In essence, he’s saying that Chicago has officially accepted the fact that there is no market for LaVine.
It remains to be seen if the doors to that market will ever re-open, or if Karnišovas and Bulls head coach Billy Donovan will be faced with the arduous task of reincorporating their spurned superstar back into Chicago’s culture.
In the event of the latter, it would require a high degree of character from LaVine to earnestly hop aboard the Bulls’ rebuild.
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