Reality came knocking by Tuesday. Unfortunately for the Bulls, when they opened the door to answer no one was there. That’s what executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas was facing just a few days into the free-agent period.
Players to move, plans to try and carry out, and not one domino falling his way in order to help that process along. A good old fashioned ding-dong ditch. First, there’s the elephant in the room that’s taken residency there for almost two years: What to do with two-time All-Star Zach LaVine and the three years, $137-plus million he has left on his max contract? The Bulls continue shopping LaVine to anyone that picks up the phone and have presented dozens of options in the last few months alone, according to one source.
While there is a scenario in which LaVine is not moved and returns to the Bulls, he would do so to a locker room that would welcome him back, but a front office and ownership group that consider it the worst-case scenario. An NBA insider told the Sun-Times on Tuesday that the relationship between LaVine and the team’s top brass is completely shattered and “filled with mistrust.” LaVine and his representation at Klutch Sports feel like they were misled on possible trade destinations, and the Bulls thought LaVine “opting” for season-ending right foot surgery when rehab on the injury was still on the table was a counterpunch thrown below the belt.
There was a reason that when the Bulls released the s.
