Getty Zach LaVine
Zach LaVine may have questions about the Chicago Bulls.
According to multiple published reports this afternoon, Zach LaVine has been linked to both the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets.
“He wants to win,” a league source tells me by phone this evening.
“He’s scary about the coaching situation. But he’s not ready to make an affirmative decision on anything just yet.”
LaVine has put up solid stats as a member of the Chicago Bulls this season.
Through 60 games, LaVine, the swingman is averaging 25.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.5 steals per contest.
LaVine is the face of the Bulls squad. But injuries haven’t been kind to a young squad that incudes Lauri Markkanen, Wendell Carter Jr., Thaddeus Young, Otto Porter Jr., Tomas Satoransky, Chandler Hutchison, Ryan Arcidiacono, Denzel Valentine and Coby White.
LaVine likes his teammates and a source assures me as such. “LaVine believes there’s reason to believe that the Bulls can be successful,” I’m told.
“They have a good young core and he’s optimistic.”
LaVine’s teammates think the world of him too. “Me and Zach are really tight, are boys, we’re really cool,” Bulls rookie, Coby White told me back in May during a Q&A with Zenni Optical.
“You know, Zach; you can go back to training camp and see one of his interviews, he’s had belief in me since day one and I think toward the end of this season, I got to show what he was believing in me for. It means a lot. So, in the offseason, he was saying: ‘I gotta come up with a nickname for you.’ And I guess he found it.”
To this point, Zach LaVine has NOT publicly or privately asked for a trade nor mentioned the Knicks or Nets’ name as potential trade destination landing spot.
But he knows his worth. “I think I’m one of the best 12 guys in the East right now individually,” the two-time NBA Slam Dunk Champion told me after a game in early February.
“From the front office down, I believe in myself on the court, I know who I am and I know what I bring.”
This past spring the Bulls created tidal waves within their organization when they hired former Denver Nuggets general manager, Arturas Karnisovas as their new team President and Marc Eversley as their new General Manager. With the hire, Eversley became the first Canadian-trained basketball player to become an NBA general manager, the first NBA general manager from the Greater Toronto Area and the first black person to be general manager of the Chicago Bulls.
LaVine has been monitoring the Bulls’ moves and according to a source: “He’s being respectful to the new GM and new President.”
Zach LaVine signed a 4 year, $78 milion contract in 2018 with the Chicago Bulls that runs throught 2022.
With two years remaining on his current deal, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent Summer 2022.
What happens then?
“At this point the Bulls would want to do whatever they need to do to make him comfortable,” per source.”