{"id":56768,"date":"2025-04-27T23:51:34","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T23:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56768"},"modified":"2025-04-27T23:51:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-27T23:51:34","slug":"bulls-decision-to-extend-lonzo-ball-called-into-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56768","title":{"rendered":"Bulls&#8217; Decision to Extend Lonzo Ball Called Into Question"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2178792529-e1745765829260.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2178792529-e1745765829260.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2178792529-e1745765829260.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2178792529-e1745765829260.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Bulls' Decision to Extend Lonzo Ball Called Into Question\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Photo by Michael Reaves\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Lonzo Ball, Chicago Bulls<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Lonzo Ball signed a two-year $20 million contract extension with the Chicago Bulls earlier this season. The deal will have a team option for the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n<p>Ball continues to struggle with injury issues. He played in just 35 games for the Bulls last season. During a recent episode of the \u201cCHGO Bulls Podcast,\u201d Matt Peck and Will Gottlieb broke down why the decision to extend Ball was likely a mistake from the Bulls.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Bulls roster building strategy should be to take on bad contracts for picks, to have multiple bites of the apple,\u201d Gottlieb said. \u201cTo be able to bring in multiple players on rookie scale contracts to fill out your roster that have potential\u2026I think ultimately, it was a mistake not to trade him (Ball).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ball\u2019s value around the NBA is at rock bottom. He hasn\u2019t been healthy in multiple years. Chicago could find it hard to include him in a trade without attaching draft picks. They may be better served stepping in as a third team in a bigger deal and using Ball\u2019s contract to facilitate a move while getting rewarded in the process.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Ball\u2019s Contract Extension Could Cost Tre Jones<\/h2>\n<p>According to\u00a0\u201cPat The Designer\u201d of Locked on Bulls, the Bulls\u2019 decision to extend Ball could limit their ability to keep Tre Jones in free agency. Jones impressed after joining Chicago as part of the Zach LaVine trade, and has looked like the ideal backup guard off the bench.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would love to have Tre Jones on this team,\u201d Pat said. \u201cI think he is literally the piece that you want to have if you\u2019re the Chicago Bulls. But, instead, you decided to re-sign Lonzo Ball for $10 million for 35 games. That\u2019s the Tre Jones spot to me\u2026It just doesn\u2019t make sense to bring him back. Unless you\u2019re just going to say \u2018we expect Lonzo to be out.\u2019 But, then it\u2019s like \u2018you shouldn\u2019t have paid Lonzo.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Bulls will likely be hoping that the market for Jones is small, which could allow them to re-sign him on a team-friendly deal. After all, they can move on from Ball at the end of next season if they\u2019re unable to trade him in the coming months.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Bulls\u2019 Rebuild Will Take Time<\/h2>\n<p>Rebuilding a roster in the NBA takes time. There will undoubtedly be some missteps along the way. When speaking to the media on April 17, Vice President of Basketball Operations Artura Karnisovas asked for the Bulls fan base to show patience, as the Bulls continue to navigate the early stages of the rebuilding process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m asking for the fans to have patience,\u201d\u00a0Karnisovas said.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re in the first year of that transition. I thought that the way we finished the year shows some promise. It\u2019s hard to win games in this league. But to finish 15-5, it\u2019s not a victory lap, but I think there are some positives. I think we gotta keep on building this group by adding another player in the lottery. Going into free agency and adding another piece. And, obviously, going into the summer, that\u2019s when the players get better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Re-signing Ball was likely a mistake by the front office. However, they can still turn things around and appear to have a clear overall blueprint on how to move forward.<\/p>\n<p>As such, Bulls fans will likely give Karnisovas the grace he\u2019s looking for, but that doesn\u2019t mean they won\u2019t be vocal when mistakes are made.<\/p>\n<p>Adam Taylor is a basketball reporter covering the Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns for Heavy. He has also written for CelticsBlog, USA Today, Yardbarker and FanSided. Adam has a bachelor\u2019s degree in creative writing from Open University. More about Adam Taylor<\/p>\n<h2>More Heavy on Bulls News<\/h2>\n<p>Loading more stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chicago Bulls signed the injury-prone guard to a two-year contract extension earlier this season, which now looks like a mistake<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":56769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bulls&#039; Decision to Extend Lonzo Ball Called Into Question - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56768\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bulls&#039; 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