Bulls move quickly to repair relationship with Zach LaVine by matching offer sheet
The Bulls could have waited 48 hours to answer the Kings’ offer for Zach LaVine, but choosing to match tonight shows the talented guard a lot of love.
Sacramento fans penciling Zach LaVine into their starting lineup need to put a halt to their imaginations. The Bulls have already made the decision to match the contract for their restricted free agent. Doing so will keep LaVine in the Windy City for years to come.
The normal course of action in a situation like this is for the player’s team to wait the full 48 hours before providing an answer to whether or not they want to match. Doing so at least forces the bidding team, in this case the Kings, to tie up their cap space for a couple of days.
Clearly the Bulls decided it was in their best interest to shut off these discussions immediately. They did this to do their best to show LaVine some extra love. His comments about his need to solicit an offer for the Kings made it clear he wasn’t happy with the Bulls organization. Their move to match the Kings offer, almost immediately, should reassure LaVine about how important Chicago believes he is to its future.
The Bulls have decided to match Sacramento's $78M offer sheet to Zach LaVine, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 7, 2018
In fairness to the Bulls, they may not send their formal answer to the Kings until the full 48 hours are up. It’s possible they are just letting everyone in the media know they’ll match to get on LaVine’s good side. Sending the Kings a formal response isn’t really a requirement at this point.
Whenever the Kings’ cap space is opened up again, you should expect them to take a long look at the other restricted free agents available. Jabari Parker is a player who may emerge as a Kings target in the near future. He isn’t a perfect fit to fill the team’s void at small forward, but then again, neither was LaVine. Marcus Smart could also emerge as a restricted target for Dave Joerger and company.
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The Bulls may be overpaying to keep LaVine, but they didn’t have a ton of choices in the matter. Letting him go would have created a huge void in their roster. It would have been impossible for Chicago to acquire a suitable replacement this late in the game. It remains to be seen whether or not the decision will haunt the Bulls in subsequent years. LaVine will have to take a massive step forward to prove worthy of this contract.