It wasn’t the best of trade deadlines for the Chicago Bulls. The franchise finally found a trade partner for Zach LaVine, but it also held onto other very tradeable assets like Nikola Vucevic, Lonzo Ball and Coby White.
Not only keeping Ball but signing him to a two-year extension could turn out to be a rare, wise move by the front office of Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley. It made some sense to hold onto the 27-year-old floor general to help guide a young roster.
Now that Ball has broken his silence on his side of the decision to remain in Chicago, it sounds like even more of a shrewd deal.
Lonzo Ball on re-signing with Bulls: ‘Just feels like family’
Chicago reportedly fielded trade offers for Ball but ultimately decided an extension was the appropriate move. And it’s not like the new contract precludes Chicago from trading him in the future; Ball is owed $10 million next season and has a team option for $10 million the next.
That takes some risk out of the equation from the Bulls’ side, given his injury history, and also puts him on an expiring contract after next season.
But maybe Ball and Chicago just go together like peanut butter and jelly, given everything the player has been through and how the team has supported him, per Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune.
“”To be honest, I just wanted to stay here. I expressed to my agent, to the staff that I would like to stay and they wanted to have me, so it all worked out. … They’ve been with me through probably the toughest journey in my life so far. I’m just trying to get back, man, and be loyal to who was loyal to me. … It just feels like family over here.””
Bulls guard Lonzo Ball
Ball will never be the player he was pre-injury when he became one of the top young two-way guards in the NBA. But his unnaturally high basketball intelligence, instincts on both ends of the floor, vision and passing skills won’t dissipate regardless of his athleticism.
As his three-point percentage continues to creep back up—he’s shooting 34.0 percent on the season but 38.1 percent in his last 12 games—his value will only increase, even if he doesn’t play in back-to-backs and has a minutes restriction.
Now that Ball has opened up on the decision to stay in Chicago, the risk-averse two-year pact makes even more sense.
