(670 The Score) As he plays a key role for the Bucks in the NBA Finals, big man Bobby Portis reflected recently on how his Bulls tenure came to an end.
Chicago traded Portis to Washington in February 2019, about four months after Portis rejected the Bulls’ offer of a four-year contract extension worth upward of $40 million plus incentives, according to contemporaneous reporting from the Tribune. Looking back, Portis wishes he had signed the deal to remain in Chicago long term.
“Sometimes when you’re a young guy in the league you always look at what somebody else has,” Portis told Shams Charania of the Athletic. “Like, ‘This guy got that, I want this. I got this, this guy got that.’ If I could tell my younger self … If I knew then what I know now, I’d tell my younger self to take the extension. It’s life-changing money, money that can set my family up and generational wealth that can provide for generations to come. I wasn’t looking at it like that. I was looking at it like, ‘Oh, I think my worth is this and that.’ But really at the time, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Sometimes, it works for people. I would’ve told myself to take it. I think it was a great fit for me.”
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Portis was 23 at the time when he declined the Bulls’ offer. He averaged 9.7 points and 5.8 rebounds across four seasons in Chicago, which selected him 22nd overall in the 2015 NBA Draft. Portis was playing a bigger role and had improved in the season that the Bulls traded him, as he was averaging 14.1 points and 7.3 rebounds in 2018-’19 for them.
“I had a very good connection with the Bulls,” Portis told the Athletic. “We were all connected. The city loved me, I played hard. I’m a blue-collar player. It’s a blue-collar city, it’s the Chicago Bulls. The fans love guys who go hard and give it their all, that’s what they want to see. They pay their hard-earned money to see guys play hard. I would tell anybody that — take the money. Whether this guy is making that or that guy is making this … it’s all about security at the end of the day.”
Portis ended up signing a two-year, $31-million deal with the Knicks when he hit free agency, but the second season was a team option so he ended up making $15 million across one season before New York let him go. Portis then joined Milwaukee on a two-year, $7.4-million deal last November, a deal on which he carries a player option on the second season.
Portis scored 11 points as the Bucks beat the Suns in Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Sunday evening. Phoenix leads the series 2-1.
Portis averaged 11.4 points and 7.1 rebounds in 20.8 minutes across 66 games, including seven starts, for the Bucks in the regular season.