The Bulls are officially broken.
Their max contract, face-of-the-franchise player made that very clear on Wednesday.
Speaking with the media after the morning shootaround, guard Zach LaVine sounded like a player that knew the trade rumors and pending breakup with the Bulls isn’t just smoke this time. It’s fire spreading from both sides.
When and where it will happen? Too early for those specifics, according to LaVine, but for the first time in his seven-year stint with the Bulls, he was acting like he knew it was going to happen.
Asked directly if he’s gone to the front office and demanded a trade, LaVine didn’t exactly play the denial game.
“My camp (Klutch Sports) talks to them all the time,’’ LaVine said. “It’s not like we’re not in a good relationship or a good talking space. We understand the business of basketball, I do more than most people. People talk. I’ve been in trade talks for a long time, so I understand the situation, but once news is always broken it’s a big thing. It’s not like it will be the first or the last time it’s going to happen with my name. As of right now I’m excited to still put this jersey on and go out here and play, try and get this win tonight.’’
LaVine was then asked if he wanted to be elsewhere and responded, “If we need to talk about that at a time, you know … right now is not that time to really talk about that. Play the Orlando Magic tonight, try and get a win. If something comes obviously out later on that will be the time I talk about it.’’
LaVine was then asked who has lost faith in the product? Was it the Bulls front office losing faith in him to approach his camp with the idea or has he lost faith in what the Bulls were building with him as the centerpiece?
He tip-toed around specifics, leading to him then being asked about this leaking into the locker room, especially so early in the season.
“This is a business, man,’’ LaVine said. “We’ve dealt with a lot more than people talking in the media. There’s been a lot more than that. Obviously, there was some news in the media. But we’re grown men. We’re a professional business. We know how to handle that.’’
And there is the growing disconnect that the Bulls need to be concerned about moving forward.
While LaVine remains well liked in the locker room personally, there have been growing questions by teammates and the coaching staff about his accountability going back to last season.
There are games in which he was pouty after a win, and then losses in which teammates didn’t understand where he was directing the blame publicly, said a source.
Veteran DeMar DeRozan and LaVine have been great friends since DeRozan joined the Bulls, and while that relationship remains strong, DeRozan has gone out of his way to prop LaVine up both on the court and off the court, almost acting as a buffer between LaVine and the frustration of teammates.
Not an easy job for DeRozan, and one that has become much more difficult now with LaVine sounding like a guy who was all for the organization moving him to a better situation.
“That’s why I have representatives like Rich Paul,’’ LaVine said when asked why he wasn’t shooting down rumors like he has in the past. “If he speaks on my behalf, that’s my agent. That’s who I obviously have my camp with. They talk to (executive vice president of basketball operations) Arturas (Karnisovas) and them. My job is to go out here and play. Simple as that.”
