It took all of one minute for the Chicago Bulls to land Lonzo Ball in a sign-and-trade at the start of NBA Free Agency.
The trade was a wild one and, despite NBA provisions, was likely discussed in the lead-up to Tuesday.
Ball signed an offer sheet with the Bulls on Monday a four-year contract worth $85 million. Rather than match said offer and keep Ball in New Orleans, the Pelicans opted to cut their losses and trade the point guard to the Windy City.
How Ball fits in Chicago remains to be seen. It’s a larger market that will likely mimic Ball’s Los Angeles days in terms of media visibility, and also pressure. Lonzo has grown a lot since then.
NBA Free Agency: Twitter freaks out at Lonzo Ball trade
The complete trade is as follows:
The Chicago Bulls are sending Tomas Satoransky, Garrett Temple and a second-round pick to New Orleans for Lonzo Ball, who's signing a four-year, $85M contract, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 2, 2021
NBA fans were more than ready for the start of the free agent season, as were Woj and Shams with their drafts on tap. The result was complete madness.
https://twitter.com/DKM_Sports/status/1422320595711168518
Coby white watching the bulls keep zach Lavine and trade for lonzo ball pic.twitter.com/LIr2obpGoH
— jw (@jwmedia12) August 2, 2021
https://twitter.com/HoodieLBJ/status/1422320598575890438
Say what you want about Lavar Ball…but bruh wasn’t wrong. Got a rookie of the year and Lonzo just got 85Ms…the one who stole from the store in China had a gig until then. The message was received wrong. Great Dad is what he is! I’m giving him his flowers 🌹🌹🌹🌹 pic.twitter.com/sKNxVBgZgy
— Ramon Foster (@RamonFoster) August 2, 2021
https://twitter.com/Kheal_Smoove/status/1422322406979420160
When Lonzo see David Griffin at the Bulls-Pelicans game pic.twitter.com/puSJjJggCW
— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) August 2, 2021
LaVine. Vooch. Pat Williams. Lonzo.
— Dave (@dave_bfr) August 2, 2021
That’s tough.
Lonzo Bull. pic.twitter.com/pfBkVhenhQ
— nba paint (@nba_paint) August 2, 2021
Waiting for that “Lonzo Ball has signed with the Chicago Bulls” notification pic.twitter.com/O0dddcQivr
— Erick Campa (@ErickCampa7) August 2, 2021
Ball joins a Bulls core of Zach LaVine, Patrick Williams, Lauri Markkanen and Nikola Vucevic. Assuming they make the right moves moving forward, there’s no reason this group can’t at least compete for a playoff spot in the East.