NBA Rumors- Bulls insider believes Zach LaVine experiment coming to an end soon
After gambling on what they believed was a championship-level roster, the Chicago Bulls window might be closing. According to Chicago Bulls insider K.C. Johnson, there is a belief that Zach LaVine's time with the Windy City could be drawing to a close.
"There is quite a bit of skepticism throughout the league that the Bulls and LaVine are going to finish this five-year marriage that they entered," Johnson said. "This is coming from the outside, it’s not coming from the Bulls, but there are just quite a bit of people that I talked to around the league who do not think this is a long-term marriage is going to last."
The Chicago Bulls are currently at a crossroads in their current roster cycle. Currently, DeMar DeRozan (33) and Zach LaVine (28) are the team's two best players, but outside of Patrick Williams, Chicago is devoid of young talent to develop.
With Nikola Vucevic becoming an unrestricted free agent this summer, the Chicago Bulls will need to decide whether to re-tool their roster around DeRozan and LaVine, or whether to tear things down and enter a full rebuild.
Should the Chicago Bulls decide to begin rebuilding from the ground up, Zach LaVine would likely be one of the first players out of the door, as he would bring a significant return via the trade market.
Of course, DeMar DeRozan would also be a hot commodity around the NBA after ending last season with averages of 24.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game on 50.4% shooting from the field and 32.4% from 3-point range.
Bulls' Lonzo Ball could struggle to play basketball again
According to Dan Bernstein of the Organizations Win Championship's podcast, there is a belief within the Chicago Bulls front office that Lonzo Ball's playing career could be over.
"The other thing I heard is even though publicly there has been an expression of guarded optimism regarding a future for Lonzo Ball," Bernstein said. "And there's a reason why for your pursuant to all kinds of union issues, why they haven't asked for the salary exemption yet because they don't want to send the message publicly that they're done with him.
"They don't think it's likely that he ever plays again."
Lonzo Ball hasn't played in the NBA since Jan. 14, 2022, when the Chicago Bulls lost to the Golden State Warriors. That means it has now been almost 18 months since Lonzo Ball was last part of the Chicago Bulls rotation, and he is already expected to miss the majority (if not the entirety) of the 2023-24 NBA season.
Should Lonzo Ball fail to recover from his knee issues, the Chicago Bulls would be in NBA purgatory, which is why making a decision to begin a roster rebuild now could be the smart decision to make.
After all, the Bulls' current core struggled to finish 10th in the Eastern Conference and didn't make it into the postseason, so the writing is clearly on the wall, especially with Nikola Vucevic unlikely to return.