Chicago Bulls: Winners and losers of the Zach LaVine deal

Loser: Cap Space

There is a chance that this deal winds up making Chicago a very attractive team for free agents. If LaVine improves his efficiency and makes strides on defense, then this deal looks pretty good. Also, given the youth of the team in the weak East, it’s likely that there will be at least one max free agent looking to join.

It’s also possible that if the Bulls can flip LaVine and assets in a year or two down the road for a superstar player. But that’s a different conversation for a different time.

The doomsday scenario is that if LaVine doesn’t come close to meeting expectations. While this seems likely, it just feels like a hard pill to swallow.

Whether he misses a lot of games or his field goal percentages drop or if he just stalls the offense, there is a lot that can go wrong.

We should safely assume the front office made this decision with the belief that LaVine will 1) reach his potential sooner rather than later and 2) stay healthy. Should this backfire, then the fans will chalk it up as yet another strike for GarPax (who seemingly have a clean slate year in, year out).

Preferably, the deal works out and the expanding cap space allows Chicago to accelerate the rebuild. If it doesn’t, then the money looks much tighter.

Next: Chicago Bulls: Could Carmelo Anthony finally wind up as a Bull?