Zach LaVine received a massive contract extension this past summer that will pay him $215 million over five years.
The hope was that both he and the Chicago Bulls would be able to build on the success they experienced in the first half of last season when they looked to be legit Eastern Conference contenders.
Unfortunately, 32 games into the new season, it is becoming very clear that things are not trending in the right direction. The Bulls are 14-18, good for 11th in the East. LaVine, meanwhile, has seen all his stats dip from last year’s numbers.
All of this has led to a lot of friction between LaVine and his teammates, which in turn has produced some chatter in recent days about a possible trade.
In a conversation with NBA insider Sean Deveney this past week, one NBA executive revealed that it is something of an open secret around the league that LaVine wants to end up with the Los Angeles Lakers.
“LaVine wants to go to the Lakers, that has been pretty clear for a while now,” he said.
“The agents (from Klutch Sports) want him to be in Los Angeles, he is a UCLA guy and they did some rattling about his contract last offseason, to kind of lay the groundwork if things blew up. Which they seem to be doing.”
Many have wondered why, if LaVine is so into joining the Lakers, he signed with the Bulls this past summer. An answer to that question emerged on Friday.
Now it is just a matter of where all parties involved go from here.
Derrick Rose gave his wife and baby mama matching outfits and then they had a wild party together. https://t.co/zAo3AO6Tdx
— Game 7 (@game7__) December 24, 2022
Clearly the current relationship between LaVine and his squad isn’t conducive to long-term success.
That said, his contract and injury-prone nature also makes him somewhat untradable at this juncture.
A resolution of some sort needs to be reached – and soon. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear as though an easy one presently exists.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
