After weeks of rumors, the Chicago Bulls have locked up their main target this summer. Jimmy Butler will be re-signing with the Bulls to a max contract, a big upgrade from the 4-year, $44 million deal the Bulls offered him in October.
It was speculated Butler would be getting courted by many teams including the Los Angeles Lakers and that Butler was seeking a shorter contract as opposed to the full 5-year extension. Luckily for the Bulls, Butler will be re-signing and they have no teams looking to match the Bulls max offer sheet.
Following from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
Jimmy Butler is finalizing a five-year, $95 million maximum contract to re-sign with the Chicago Bulls, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Butler’s deal will include a player option after the fourth year of the deal, sources told Yahoo.
Teams pursuing Butler with offer sheet proposals have conceded and moved on, league sources said. Butler was a restricted free agent, and Chicago could’ve matched an offer sheet and retained him.
Jimmy Butler coming back to the Bulls all but finalizes Chicago’s moves this summer. They don’t have any money or room to sign anyone else unless they go out and make some trades or use their mid-level exception. They got Bobby Portis in the draft so their frontcourt depth is solidified.
The only thing they possibly would need is a backup guard because the newly re-signed Kirk Hinrich isn’t the same player he was a few years ago.
