The 2024-25 NBA season is here! We present the biggest questions, best- and worst-case scenarios, and fantasy predictions for all 30 teams. Enjoy!
End of year 2023–24
Off-season moves
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Enrichment: Josha Giddeya, Jalena Smitha, Chrisa Duarte and Matasa Buzelisa
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Subtraction: DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso, Andre Drummond, Javonte Green
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Complete squad
The big question: When will the Zach LaVine era end?
Zach LaVine is on and off the trade market since signing a five-year, $215 million contract extension in 2022. He has three years left on that contract, including this season, when he is owed 30% of the team's salary cap. The Bulls have one playoff win – not a series, but a single game.
But no one wants to pay that kind of money to someone who has never significantly contributed to winning NBA basketball. Not at any price the Bulls want in return. It's more likely that they would have to tie up assets to LaVine's contract to move him, and they lost enough draft picks due to bad trades.
Don't get me wrong: LaVine is a talented player. He was a back-to-back All-Star, averaging 26-5-5 on 49/40/85 shooting in 2020-21 and 2021-22. He is a pure scorer. He also doesn't create well for others and doesn't play sound defense. He is a shooter who likes to shoot a lot.
It doesn't help that the 29-year-old is coming off season-ending surgery on his right foot, and his left knee has been operated on twice. He has missed a third of games over the last eight seasons.
One team (the Los Angeles Lakers?) may be desperate for LaVine's shot. It hasn't happened yet. It's best for this to happen before the trade deadline because Chicago can't grow as a franchise until it happens.
DeMar DeRozan is no more. Alex Caruso is no more. Gone is the facade that the Bulls are trying to win. Nikola Vučević remains. His contract is also not easy to sell. They signed Josh Giddey to give the 21-year-old the keys to the offense. Coby White is the first lottery pick they have drafted since Derrick Rose. He is a goalkeeper and fans hope that this year's coach, Matas Buzelis, will follow in his footsteps. They have design elements.
And LaVine says all the right things.
“Anything that will have a negative impact on me (against) the organization – rumors, drama, whatever it is – I leave it in the past,” he told reporters at media day, declaring he was “fully healthy.” I'm doing a lot at this camp now, I'm developing in this team, helping, learning and just having fun.
Ideally, LaVine will flank Giddey on the wing, providing a lethal outlet for the intriguing playmaker. But that's not how it works. You can't tell LaVine, “Listen, I know you've been our most-used player for the last seven years, but we're going to need you to fill in for a player who couldn't stay on the court for the Oklahoma City Thunder game. in the playoffs.” You can't tell me that Chicago's hierarchy will do anything as soon as it returns to the natural order – with LaVine, the veteran All-Star, at the top – as soon as the losses start.
The only solution is comprehensive reconstruction.
Otherwise, the Bulls will spend the next three seasons recruiting young talent, developing them and building around them, and LaVine will work against that process. Why would he want to spend the rest of his career helping usher in the next era of Bulls basketball if he wants to define that era? He has. This is not a success.
Best case scenario
The Bulls do get some value out of LaVine and Vučević's contracts, even if it's some expiring contracts and a second-round pick or two. Lonzo Ball returning to the court for the first time since a devastating knee injury in January 2022 restores his value. Giddey is perfect as the main playmaker. White and Buzzis fit around him. For the first time in over a decade, Chicago enjoys hope for the future despite losing many games and finally hitting the lottery with a bit of luck.
If everything falls apart
That leaves LaVine. Vučević remains. The presence of both retards Buzzelis' development. Ball won't survive the season, but the Bulls are winning so many early games that they are convinced that it's worth pursuing another bid in the play-in tournament. It never comes. They win Just enough games to make them outside the top ten of the draft, and their protected draft pick is instead moved to the San Antonio Spurs.
Spin fantasy
LaVine talked about his season approaching and I was confident he would restore his basketball worth in real life and in fantasy. You have to feel the Bulls will play him more often in hopes of getting his contract out of the way. That said, 23-5-4 is a safe level for LaVine following DeRozan's departure. Vučević's situation is declining, but he is still an asset in terms of points, rebounds and assist rebounds from the central position.
Giddey is stepping into a larger role for the Bulls and can produce in a variety of ways in fantasy. Career year is coming. I assume White will be off the ball more when he shares the court with Giddey and Ball, so his effectiveness may drop. Still, it's worth grabbing a scorer of his caliber in the eighth round. You can cross Patrick Williams off your draft list, and Buzelis and Jalen Smith are players to watch. —Dan Tytus
2024–25 schedule
The Bulls have to lose or they lose a draft pick. Take under.
