![](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,<svg height="438" width="780" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1"/>)
The Chicago Bulls’ youth movement is already fairly expensive. They still have pricey veterans Lonzo Ball, Nikola Vucevic, and Zach LaVine on the roster and are entering the second year of new contracts for both Ayo Dosunmu and Coby White.
The Bulls extended Patrick Williams over the 2024 offseason. The Athletic’s John Hollinger was the Memphis Grizzlies vice president of basketball operations from 2012 to 2019.
He believes William’s five-year, $90 million contract deserves more scrutiny than it has gotten.
“I love the general concept of Chicago pulling the ripcord and going young, even if it came a year too late. On the other hand, Williams got paid because he was the fourth pick in the 2020 draft and because … actually I’m struggling with the rest of this,” Hollinger wrote on August 23.
“He’s the type of player where the idea of what he can do is intoxicating, and being confronted with the reality of what he actually does is much less so.”
Williams averaged 10.0 points and 3.9 rebounds for the Bulls in 2023-24. Those were both steps back from his 2022-23 campaign with his rebounding numbers setting a new career low. He did set a new career high with 1.5 assists per game.
However, his season was cut short after 43 games (30 starts) by a foot injury.
“This deal pays him as though it’s a sure thing he’ll get significantly better. It feels like a big leap of faith when he’s been there four years and barely improved at all,” Hollinger wrote.
“There was definitely a number at which it made sense with Williams, but five years and $90 million with a player option isn’t it. And if another rival wanted to pay him that money … let them. It wasn’t any kind of existential threat to the Bulls.”
Patrick Williams Cannot Regress in 2024-25
Williams started all 82 regular season contests in 2022-23. But 2023-24 marked his third season with a substantial injury absence in his four-year NBA career.
He cannot develop if he is not on the floor.
“What the Bulls can’t afford is for Williams, still considered a major building block, to stagnate. Williams must prove he can stay healthy, rebound with more consistency and find his footing in the offensive flow more effectively,” The Athletic’s Darnell Mayberry wrote on June 29. “And the runway for Williams might be clearing in Chicago.”
The Bulls traded Alex Caruso and DeMar DeRozan during the 2024 offseason. DeRozan was a mentor to Williams. But the latter has been candid about struggling to maintain his aggression when sharing a lineup with the Bulls’ former star trio of DeRozan, LaVine, and Vucevic.
Chicago had a minus-4.8 net efficiency differential when Williams shared the floor with the Bulls’ big three, per Cleaning The Glass. It was minus-0.3 when Caruso was the fifth player.
That number skyrocketed to plus-15.7 without Caruso and DeRozan, albeit on 164 possessions.
The Bulls’ rating was not much better when Williams and Vucevic shared the floor without the Caruso, DeRozan, or LaVine at minus-14.1. The Bulls have tried to trade LaVine. But his market has lacked despite the front office’s efforts.
Their rating was plus-1.7 in 139 possessions with Willams on the floor without any of those other three players.
Hollinger’s criticism is very reminiscent of reactions to Vucevic’s contract extension.
Bulls Followed Familiar Path With Patrick Williams
The Bulls gave Vucevic a three-year, $60 million contract before the start of free agency in 2023. That deal was panned for similar reasons Hollinger mentions about Williams.
“They gave Nikola Vucevic a three-year, $60 million deal that no one else was going to be giving him,” Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer said on the “No Cap Room” podcast on July 20. “That didn’t exactly draw strong praise from people around the NBA.”
Before Vucevic, it was LaVine.
LaVine signed a five-year, $215.1 million contract in free agency in 2022. That deal has proven to be one of the roadblocks to finding a trade partner for the two-time All-Star.
Hollinger also criticized the Bulls for giving DeRozan a three-year, $81.9 million pact in 2021, though he proved worth it. The Bulls were not as fortunate with Ball, who is tracking to make his return in 2024-25 after multiple knee surgeries and a two-year absence.
Ball is in the final year of a four-year, $80 million contract.
The Bulls acquired Josh Giddey from the Oklahoma City Thunder for Caruso. Giddey is also in the last year of his rookie deal, positioning Chicago for another highly-anticipated extension.
0 Comments