3 reasons the Chicago Bulls should not match Zach LaVine’s offer

Not worth the cost

As I mentioned, $20 million per year is a significant amount for LaVine. By comparison, Will Barton signed a free agent deal with the Denver Nuggets for 4 years and $54 million or $13.5 million per year. Barton has similar, if not better career numbers than LaVine in many of the major offensive statistical categories.

If Barton is only worth $13.5 per year, how could the Bulls justify paying LaVine $20 million per year? Moreover, it would be extremely unwise for the Bulls to commit that much money to a layer like LaVine. So far, the Bulls have been very quiet in free agency. They have resisted the temptation to overspend on a mediocre free agent. This is a smart approach by John Paxson and Gar Forman. Just because the team has a ton of salary cap space, doesn’t mean they should spend it carelessly.

As I have referenced in a number of previous posts, the Bulls need to stay committed to the rebuild. They need to continue to draft smartly, develop their young players, create salary cap space, and then aggressively go after free agents in 2020. Signing LaVine to a cost-prohibitive contract does not fit into the rebuild.

Moreover, if the Bulls have any desire to pursue future free agents like Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, or Jimmy Butler they need to refrain from matching this deal.