The 2024-25 NBA season is here! We’re breaking down the biggest questions, best- and worst-case scenarios, and fantasy outlooks for all 30 teams. Enjoy!
2023-24 finish
Offseason moves
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Additions: Josh Giddey, Jalen Smith, Chris Duarte, Matas Buzelis
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Subtractions: DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso, Andre Drummond, Javonte Green
The Big Question: When will the Zach LaVine era end?
Zach LaVine is on the trade market and really has been since he signed his five-year, $215 million contract extension in 2022. He has three years left on that deal, including this season, when he is owed 30% of the team’s salary cap. The Bulls have one playoff win to show for it — not a series but a single game.
Except, nobody wants to pay all that money for someone who has never meaningfully contributed to winning NBA basketball. Not at any price the Bulls want in return. More likely, they would have to attach assets to LaVine’s contract in order to move him, and they have lost enough draft picks to bad trades.
Do not get me wrong: LaVine is a talented player. He made back-to-back All-Star appearances, averaging a 26-5-5 on 49/40/85 shooting splits during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. He is a pure scorer. He also does not create well for others or play sound defense. He is a shot-maker who likes to take a lot of shots.
It does not help that the 29-year-old is coming off season-ending surgery to his right foot, and his left knee has twice been surgically repaired. He has missed a third of his games over the past eight seasons.
Some team (the Los Angeles Lakers?) might get desperate for LaVine’s shooting. It has not happened yet. It best happen by the trade deadline, because Chicago cannot move forward as a franchise until it does.
Gone is DeMar DeRozan. Gone is Alex Caruso. Gone is the facade that the Bulls are trying to win. Nikola Vučević remains. His contract is not easily traded, either. They acquired Josh Giddey to give a 21-year-old the keys to the offense. Coby White is the first lottery pick they have developed since Derrick Rose. He is a keeper, and they hope this year’s selection, Matas Buzelis, follows suit. They have building blocks.
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And LaVine is saying all the right things.
“Anything negative that will try to pin me [against] the organization — rumors, drama, whatever it is — I leave that in the past,” he told reporters on media day, declaring himself “fully healthy.” “I’m focusing a lot on this camp right now, going forward on this team and helping, learning and just having a good time.”
Ideally, LaVine flanks Giddey on the wing, providing a lethal outlet for an intriguing playmaker. But that is not how this works. You cannot say to LaVine, “Listen, I know you’ve been our highest-usage player for the past seven years, but we’re going to need you to complement a guy who could not stay on the court for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the playoffs.” You cannot tell me Chicago’s hierarchy will do anything but return to its natural order — with LaVine, the All-Star veteran, at the top — once the losing begins.
A full-blown rebuild is the only solution.
Otherwise, the Bulls will spend the next three seasons drafting young talent, developing it and building around it, all while LaVine works against that process. Why would he want to spend the rest of his prime facilitating the next era of Bulls basketball when he wants to define this era? He has. It is not a success.
Best-case scenario
The Bulls actually extract some value from LaVine’s and Vučević’s contracts, even if it is some expiring contracts and a second-round pick or two. Lonzo Ball, making his return to the court for the first time since his debilitating knee injury in January 2022, restores his value. Giddey excels in his role as a lead playmaker. White and Buzelis fit around him. Chicago is encouraged about its future for the first time in more than a decade, even as they lose a lot of games, and at the end they land a little luck in the lottery.
If everything falls apart
LaVine remains. Vučević remains. The presence of both delays the development of Buzelis. Ball cannot last the season, but the Bulls win enough games at the start that they convince themselves it is worthwhile chasing another play-in tournament bid. It never comes. They win just enough games to fall outside the top 10 in the draft, and their protected draft pick instead transfers to the San Antonio Spurs.
Fantasy spin
LaVine spoke about his approach to the season and I was left convinced he’ll restore his basketball value in real life and fantasy. You gotta feel like the Bulls will feature him more in the hopes of moving off his contract. That said, 23-5-4 is a safe floor for LaVine after DeRozan’s departure. Vučević is declining, but he remains an asset for points, boards and assists from the center spot.
Giddey is stepping into a larger role for the Bulls and can produce in a variety of ways in fantasy. Career year incoming. I assume White will be more off-ball when he shares the court with Giddey and Ball, so his usage may dip. Still, grabbing a scorer of his caliber in the eighth round is worthwhile. You can scratch Patrick Williams off your draft list, while Buzelis and Jalen Smith are players to watch. — Dan Titus
2024-25 schedule
The Bulls need to lose, or they will lose their draft pick. Take the under.