Chicago Bulls 2024-25 season preview: Zach LaVine remains, leaving franchise in limbo

The 2024-2025 NBA season is here! We analyze the biggest questions, best- and worst-case scenarios, and fantasy prospects for all 30 teams. Enjoy!

End 2023-24

Off-season moves

• Additions: Josh Giddey, Jalen Smith, Chris Duarte, Matas Buzelis

• Deductions: DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso, Andre Drummond, Javonte Green

• Complete roster

The big question: When will the Zach LaVine era end?

Zach LaVine is active on the trade market and has been since he signed his five-year, $215 million contract extension in 2022. He has three years left on that deal, including this season when he’ll be owed 30% of the team’s salary cap. . The Bulls have one playoff win to show for this – not a series, just one game.

Except no one wants to pay all that money for someone who never made a meaningful contribution to winning NBA basketball. Not at any price the Bulls want in return. It’s more likely they’ll have to attach assets to LaVine’s contract to move him, and they’ve lost plenty of draft picks to bad trades.

Don’t get me wrong: LaVine is a talented player. He made back-to-back All-Star appearances, averaging 26-5-5 on 49/40/85 shooting splits during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. He is a pure goalscorer. He also doesn’t create well for others and doesn’t play good defense. He is a shot maker who likes to take a lot of shots.

It doesn’t help that the 29-year-old is coming off season-ending surgery on his right foot and has had his left knee surgically repaired twice. He has missed a third of his games over the past eight seasons.

A team (the Los Angeles Lakers?) could become desperate over LaVine’s shooting. It hasn’t happened yet. This is best done before the trade deadline, as Chicago can only move forward as a franchise.

Gone is DeMar DeRozan. Gone is Alex Caruso. Gone is the facade the Bulls are trying to win. Nikola Vučević stays. His contract is also not easy to trade. They acquired Josh Giddey to give a 21-year-old the keys to the offense. Coby White is the first lottery pick they have developed since Derrick Rose. He is here to stay and they hope this year’s selection, Matas Buzelis, follows suit. They have building blocks.

And LaVine says all the right things.

“Anything negative that will try to pin me (against) the organization – rumors, drama, whatever it is – I will leave in the past,” he told reporters at media day, declaring himself “completely sane.” We are doing a lot at this camp right now, continuing with this team and helping, learning and just having a good time.”

Ideally, LaVine flanks Giddey on the wing, providing a lethal outlet for an intriguing playmaker. But that’s not how this works. You can’t say to LaVine, “Listen, I know you’ve been our most used player for the last seven years, but we need you to complement a guy who couldn’t stay on the field for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the play -offs.” You can’t tell me Chicago’s hierarchy will do anything other than return to its natural order — with LaVine, the All-Star veteran at the top — once the losing starts.

A complete rebuild is the only solution.

Otherwise, the Bulls will spend the next three seasons drafting, developing and building around young talent while LaVine thwarts that process. Why would he want to spend the rest of his prime years facilitating the next era of Bulls basketball when he wants to define this era? He has. It’s not a success.

At best

The Bulls are actually getting some value out of LaVine and Vučević’s contracts, even if it involves some expiring contracts and a few second-round selections. Lonzo Ball, returning to the field for the first time since his debilitating knee injury in January 2022, is restoring his value. Giddey excels in his role as lead playmaker. White and Buzelis pass around him. Chicago is encouraged about its future for the first time in more than a decade, even if they lose a lot of games and end up getting a little lucky in the lottery.

When everything falls apart

LaVine stays. Vučević stays. The presence of both slows down the development of Buzelis. Ball can’t sustain the season, but the Bulls win enough games early on that they convince themselves it’s worth pursuing another play-in tournament bid. It never comes. They win just now enough games to fall outside the top 10 of the draft, and their protected draft pick instead moves to the San Antonio Spurs.

Fantasy twist

LaVine spoke about his approach to the season and I remained confident he would restore his basketball value in real life and fantasy. You have to feel like the Bulls will use him more often in hopes of terminating his contract. That said, 23-5-4 is a safe floor for LaVine after DeRozan’s departure. Vučević is declining, but he remains an asset for points, boards and assists from the center spot.

Giddey plays a bigger role for the Bulls and can produce fantasy in a variety of ways. Career year is coming. I assume White will be more off-ball if he shares the court with Giddey and Ball, so his usage may decrease. Still, it’s worth taking a goalscorer of his caliber in the eighth round. You can leave Patrick Williams off your draft list, while Buzelis and Jalen Smith are players to keep an eye on. – Dan Titus

Schedule 2024-25

The Bulls must lose or they will lose their draft pick. Take the bottom.