Chicago Bulls Rumors: Lance Stephenson viewed as fallback signing
By Josh Hill
The Chicago Bulls are looking at ways they can get better this offseason and they have a list of names they’ll be looking at to try and help make that happen. Obviously, first on the list is Carmelo Anthony but as good a pitch the Bulls laid out on Tuesday, they’re no slam dunk to land the prized free agent and have other and have a slew of backup options ready to go.
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One name that Chicago was mentioned with early on was Lance Stephenson but no one has talked about him for a long time as his market has evaporated for the moment.
According to Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Bulls are indeed interested in free agent guard Lance Stephenson but merely as a backup option to their pursuit of Carmelo Anthony and nothing more serious than at at this moment.
"There was a report that the Bulls also inquired about Pacers free agent Lance Stephenson. That call was more of a just-in-case, according to the source. The Bulls think Stephenson’s initial asking price is beyond their means."
The focus is on Melo at the moment for the Bulls but attention needs to be spent on backup options, which is what Chicago appears to be doing. But on the list of backup options it would seem that Pau Gasol is higher up than Stephenson is, meaning that the market for the Pacers guard could be a lot smaller than we all thought it would be.
Chicago is still a good fit for Stephenson and the wait for Carmelo to sign may be all that is holding him back from hearing offers, but we haven’t even heard his name in rumors much which is telling of how front offices are viewing him this summer.