NEWSLETTER
The Zach LaVine drama isn’t over yet.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, LaVine may keep us all at the edge of our seats as he deliberates over his free agency decision. The NBA insider said he doesn’t anticipate a decision to come from his camp tonight. You can watch the clip for yourself at the bottom of this post, but here’s the money quote:
“He’s going to speak with the Bulls tonight,” Charania said on Stadium. “They’re going to make an offer and those sides will talk in the lead-up to free agency later tonight [and] tomorrow. I don’t expect his decision to be a night one decision. He’s going to take some time to deliberate. He’s going to have max offer sheets potentially in the marketplace, as well.”
As queasy as that news makes me feel, I do still expect this to end with LaVine signing a new contract in Chicago. We heard throughout much of the offseason that LaVine would want to go through the process and experience what unrestricted free agency had to offer, so it sounds like the plan is simply to do just that.
Does that mean I actually expect someone else to convince him to turn down the Bulls’ deal? No. They are still the only team that can offer a five-year max, and the front office has sure sounded ready to do that in recent offseason interviews. And let’s not forget LaVine has reportedly sounded very much ready to accept it, too.
So … take a deep breath. We still have no reason to believe the Bulls aren’t in the driver’s seat, and it’s still totally possible a deal is reached tonight as the two sides talk. All we can do is wait and see.
Check out Charania’s full thoughts below:
UPDATE (5:31)
Again, Charania’s report doesn’t mean a deal getting done tonight is completely off the table. The Sun-Times’ Joe Cowley suggested that LaVine is currently in conversations with the Bulls, which could imply why we’ve also seen very few other free-agent decisions from the organization announced.
