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Zach LaVine -- Player Option
The skinny: A common adjective to describe Zach LaVine is "athletic," and he has acquired that notoriety from his participation in two of the NBA's Slam Dunk Contests. Many forget that his game does not only consist of dunks, however. His defense still needs a lot of work, but he isn't too shabby from downtown — he's a 37.3 percent career three-point shooter, and he shot 34.1 percent with the Bulls.
On the other hand, the last couple of seasons have been tough for LaVine because of his injuries. In his last season with Minnesota, he only played 47 games due to a torn ACL. This season with the Bulls, he only played 24 games, missing a majority of the beginning of the season while still recovering from his ACL injury.
LaVine a fit? In an ideal world, LaVine would be one of those low-risk, high-reward type players the Nets have experimented with over the last two seasons. After all, he's had troubles with injuries over the last two years, so we should think that he would not be after big money.
However, how much LaVine is worth (and will be offered by the Bulls) is still up in the air. He has danced around the subject of whether he is worth a maximum contract, only telling The Chicago Tribune that "max players are top of the line" and "you are what you're worth."
LaVine has already stated his wishes to stay in Chicago, and the Bulls seem to want him back as well — John Paxson, the Bulls' vice president of basketball operations, praised LaVine's "value" to the squad. He just might earn top dollar if the Bulls want to eliminate other potential suitors. Max contracts seem to float around rather easily these days.
Worthy pursuit? There isn't anything to mull over in terms of LaVine's age, since he's only 23. For the Nets, it comes down to whether they believe LaVine is worth however much they'll be competing with on the market. If other teams decide LaVine is not worth the max, then the Nets have a better shot at not spending an exorbitant amount of money to try to land him. That's their best-case scenario.
