(670 The Score) After indicating in late April that he’d consider all his options on the open market, star guard Zach LaVine did that quietly and behind the scenes with his camp – but he didn’t seriously flirt with outside suitors once free agency began.
Speaking publicly for the first time since signing his five-year, $215-million maximum contract to return to the Bulls, LaVine on Monday praised the organization for building around him and added he didn’t take any meetings with other teams in free agency. The reasons for bypassing a free agency tour were simple in his mind.
In addition to landing an extra $54 million or so by remaining with the Bulls – who could extend a bigger offer than any other team – LaVine also heard what he needed to from executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas, general manager Marc Eversley and coach Billy Donovan.
“I went into the offseason with an open mind,” LaVine said on a Zoom call. “I laid out my goals just like I always have. Once I was able to meet with Marc and AK and they came to me with everything I wanted, there was no other reason for me to go outside and look at any other teams. I think that would’ve been, for me, disrespectful on my end. Because they gave me everything I asked for, and everything on the table that I looked at had Chicago as all the pros. I did my due diligence on my own time as well and looked at things and made a decision for me and my family. My heart was in Chicago.”
The “everything” term that LaVine used could be applied in both a contractual and basketball sense. His maximum contract includes a player option on the final season and is fully guaranteed, according to ESPN, so the Bulls didn’t ask LaVine to make any concessions in negotiations.
LaVine, 27, was also appreciative of the Bulls being aggressive a year ago to acquire star forward DeMar DeRozan, point guard Lonzo Ball and guard Alex Caruso, additions who helped Chicago improve to 46-36 and earn the No. 6 seed in the East this past season. That marked the first time in his eight-year NBA career that LaVine reached the playoffs, where the Bulls fell in five games to the Bucks.
From the sounds of it, the Bulls front office continues to take LaVine’s feedback to heart.
“Chicago is my home,” LaVine said. “I think we’ve built something over the last, well at least for me, I’ve been here for five years and over the last two, three, we’ve built something. Being able to come back as a cornerstone piece and allowing them to get some of my insights, some of my input, they’re pretty much constructing a roster to help me and help us win – that was really big for me.”
LaVine averaged 24.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists while shooting 47.6% shooting overall and 38.9% on 3-pointers in 67 games last season, when he earned All-Star honors for the second time. LaVine was hampered in the second half of the season by lingering soreness and discomfort in his left knee, which he had surgery on in late May. That’s the same knee on which LaVine had surgery to repair an ACL tear in 2017, but he’s confident in his health outlook.
“I feel great,” LaVine said. “Just had a run-of-the-mill knee scope to go in there and clean some stuff out. I feel way better. I’ve been rehabbing, working out, playing, lifting, doing all the good stuff and boring stuff too.
You have to start slow like always. It’s been good. I feel really good. Over the next two months, getting back into the season, I feel like I’m going to be even better.”
LaVine understands that heightened scrutiny will come with his maximum contact that’s far and away the largest in Bulls history, but he has no plans to change his mindset that got him to this point.
“You can’t control everything with injuries, being traded, whatever it is, but I could always control my demeanor, my work ethic and what I brought to the game,” LaVine said. “I always pictured myself as the player that I am and the player I’m going to be and continue to strive to be, and what comes with that is being compensated at that level. I’m very proud of myself and my family in getting to this point.
“It’s just a credit to my hard work. I’ve had the same work ethic and the same goals as before the contract, after the contract. I was striving for it when I was on my rookie deal. So there’s no extra added pressure. It’s just who I am and what goals, what things I want to reach (for) and how much better can we get as a team. But there’s no added pressure. I think it’s just a compliment of a lot of hard work and showing what type of player I am.”
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.
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