Chicago Bulls: 3 Expectations for the upcoming 2022-23 season

Expectation 1. Zach LaVine should go 50-40-90

The 50-40-90 club is a prestigious group in NBA history. It’s a group of players who, in a single season, have shot at least 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three, and 90 percent from the free-throw line.

Notable players in this group include Larry Bird, Steve Nash, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and most recently, Kyrie Irving.

Zach LaVine, fresh off inking a new 215 million dollar contract to stay with the Bulls and reportedly 100 percent healthy, must come into the season with higher expectations than seasons preceding.

Despite how rare this feat is, I believe Zach LaVine is one of the few talents in the NBA capable of achieving it. Here is how close he has been to this feat in his past two all-star seasons:

• 2020-21 (1st All-Star Season): 50.7 percent FG, 41.9 percent 3P, 84.9 percent FT
• 2021-22 (2nd All-Star Season): 47.6 percent FG, 38.9 percent 3P, 85.3 percent FT
• 2021-22 Pre-Injury on 1/14: 49.1 percent FG, 41.2 percent 3P, 87.2 percent FT

As we can see, for the past two seasons Zach LaVine has been flirting with 50-40-90 territory, and I believe this can be the season he finally breaks through, which would be quite the way to kick off his new max-contract status.

Additionally, even looking at his splits when he was healthy last season and considering how close he was to 50-40-90, doesn’t tell the whole story as he was dealing with a thumb injury for the first two months of the year.

In 2022-23, Zach LaVine should be back to 100 percent healthy and if he can stay that way, I fully expect him to attain 50-40-90 status or come extremely close once again.