Report: Butler Plans to Pursue Shorter-Term Offer Sheets; Lakers a Possibility?

dreadpirateroberts · Jun 16, 2015

Adrian Wojnarowski - Yahoo Sports

Chicago Bulls restricted free-agent guard Jimmy Butler has plans to pursue shorter-term offer sheets this summer, resisting the Bulls’ initial plans to offer him a five-year, maximum contract extension, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

As the NBA’s salary cap is set to dramatically rise beginning with the 2016-17 season, Butler has become far less interested in locking himself into the five-year, $90 million-plus deal the Bulls are expected to present him on July 1, league sources said.

For Chicago, there’s no challenge to retaining Butler. As a restricted free agent, the Bulls have matching rights on any offer sheet. Nevertheless, Chicago could be faced with Butler’s agents at Relativity Media, Happy Walters and Steve McCaskill, loading up a short-term offer sheet that includes a trade kicker and the potential loss of Butler to unrestricted free agency in 2017.
As Butler spends time in Los Angeles this summer, a stretch that’s included an overseas “Entourage” promotional jaunt with producer Mark Wahlberg, Butler’s intrigue with signing a potential Los Angeles Lakers offer sheet has increased, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Butler has preliminary plans to pursue meetings with several teams once free agency starts in July, sources said. Several teams pursuing Butler told Yahoo Sports that they’re under the impression a short-term, max money offer sheet is the wisest way to approach Butler this summer.

Unless Bulls officials bring Butler a shorter-term deal that’s more favorable to his long-term earning power, they’ll likely be waiting to match an offer sheet, league sources said.

Butler could sign a three-year offer sheet that guarantees him $50 million, but allows for a player option on the third year that could allow him to move into unrestricted free agency and re-sign for a five-year, maximum deal worth as much as $190 million. It is understandable why Chicago wants Butler locked into a five-year, $90 million max extension under the current salary structure, but that appears to be a deal Butler plans to pass on.

Chicago has to sell Butler on a post-Tom Thibodeau era under Fred Hoiberg to get him fully comfortable with the franchise’s direction. What’s more, there’s an increasing belief surrounding Butler and point guard Derrick Rose that they need to come to a greater understanding about how to best co-exist on the floor.

The Bulls understand that Butler had the staying power to turn down a four-year, $44 million extension (four-year, $48 million would’ve gotten the Bulls a deal, sources said) during an exclusive negotiating window in October, and they’ll have to wonder too: If there’s a player with the conviction to risk playing out the 2015-16 season for his $4.4 million qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent in 2016, it could be Butler. Nevertheless, that’ll be considered a long shot in the process.

At 25 years old, Butler had his best NBA season, earning a spot on the Eastern Conference All-Star team. An elite two-way player, Butler averaged 20 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. His career averages are 11.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and two assists. He was the 30th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft. He was voted the NBA’s Most Improved Player this season

Interesting. Thoughts? Opinions?

dreadpirateroberts · Jun 16, 2015

What I think will happen is the Bulls will sign Butler to a shorter-term offer sheet and once the final year is in, they will pursue trade offers. Another possibility is if Butler wants to go to LA this season, the Bulls could do a sign-and-trade with them for players and draft picks. Unlikely though.

clonetrooper264 · Jun 16, 2015

I doubt they trade Butler at this stage. I get why he's going for the shorter deal...trying to max out his earnings with the new TV deal. It is what it is, we can just match whatever deal he gets offered with no penalties anyway so I'm not worried. It's the deal after this that I'm more concerned about. Hoiberg needs to work out very fast if we wanna keep him.

FireFox · Jun 16, 2015

I.get it, but I don't necessarily like it.

Gustavus Adolphus · Jun 16, 2015

Wait a second....I thought he was Mr. Teammate.

Raskolnikov · Jun 16, 2015

clonetrooper264 said:
I doubt they trade Butler at this stage. I get why he's going for the shorter deal...trying to max out his earnings with the new TV deal. It is what it is, we can just match whatever deal he gets offered with no penalties anyway so I'm not worried. It's the deal after this that I'm more concerned about. Hoiberg needs to work out very fast if we wanna keep him.

yeah....this should be good for us. If we are willing to offer a 5 year max, it would seem we would of course sign any poison pill contract teams can come up with. We may eventually be forced to trade either Rose or Butler, but at least we will be compensated. It means more cap now, and paying Butler more later when the salary cap is higher and we have had time to deal with some other contracts like Noah/Gibson etc.

Go Bulls!! Lets make this a Chicago year. Hawks. Cubs. Bears. Bulls. Its my dream to pull a Chicago cycle and though I prefer the White Sox, they just have no chance.

MJ2345 · Jun 16, 2015

dreadpirateroberts said:
What I think will happen is the Bulls will sign Butler to a shorter-term offer sheet and once the final year is in, they will pursue trade offers. Another possibility is if Butler wants to go to LA this season, the Bulls could do a sign-and-trade with them for players and draft picks. Unlikely though.

I agree

Alpha Male · Jun 16, 2015

Seems like jimmy really wants to join the lakers. Can't really do anything about it. I wish him the best if he does leverage free agency to get out of chicago. Won't be burning any jerseys.

Axl Rose · Jun 17, 2015

if Jimmy wants to take a 3 year deal then whatever im fine with that....it might actually be better that way in the long run....we'll get the good prime years out of him then if he wants to bolt to LA so be it

Scoot26 · Jun 17, 2015

AirGordon7 said:
if Jimmy wants to take a 3 year deal then whatever im fine with that....it might actually be better that way in the long run....we'll get the good prime years out of him then if he wants to bolt to LA so be it

It would be really a 2 year deal with the 3rd year being an option. Meaning if he produces for two years, he will certainly opt out and be an unrestricted free agent.

clonetrooper264 · Jun 17, 2015

Scoot26 said:
It would be really a 2 year deal with the 3rd year being an option. Meaning if he produces for two years, he will certainly opt out and be an unrestricted free agent.

On the plus side, we can still offer him the biggest deal after this deal and since we have Bird rights, we don't have to worry about the cap.

Scoot26 · Jun 17, 2015

clonetrooper264 said:
On the plus side, we can still offer him the biggest deal after this deal and since we have Bird rights, we don't have to worry about the cap.

Also at the moment, the team has no one on the payroll for 2017-18.

Scoot26 · Jun 17, 2015

Salary
Player	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	Guaranteed
Derrick Rose	$18,862,875	$20,093,063	$21,323,250			$60,279,188
Joakim Noah	$12,200,000	$13,400,000				$25,600,000
Taj Gibson	$8,000,000	$8,500,000	$8,950,000			$25,450,000
Pau Gasol	$7,128,000	$7,448,760	$7,769,520			$14,576,760
Nikola Mirotic	$5,305,000	$5,543,725	$5,782,450			$16,631,175
Mike Dunleavy	$3,326,235					$3,326,235
Kirk Hinrich	$2,730,000	$2,870,000				$2,730,000
Doug McDermott	$2,277,960	$2,380,440	$2,483,040	$3,294,994		$4,658,400
Jimmy Butler	$2,008,748					$2,008,748
Tony Snell	$1,472,400	$1,535,880	$2,368,327			$3,008,280
Nazr Mohammed	$1,448,490					$1,448,490
Aaron Brooks	$1,145,685					$1,145,685
E'Twaun Moore	$948,163	$1,015,421				$948,163
Cameron Bairstow	$507,336	$845,059	$980,431			$932,336
Carlos Boozer	$13,550,000
Richard Hamilton	$333,333	$333,333				$666,666
Team Totals	$81,244,225	$63,965,681	$49,657,018	$3,294,994		$163,410,126

Its obvious should Niko continue to improve that he'll get a nice deal. Noah's dead. Though he might be on a friendly deal by then. Rose.. hard to say what happens there. Snell will be with the team still if he continues to improve as well. Otherwise, its really hard to say what the hell will be here in 2017.

clonetrooper264 · Jun 17, 2015

Hey after next season Rip Hamilton will finally be off the books!

BNB · Jun 17, 2015

When the salary cap rises, how much is Butler really gonna be worth though? Before this past season, I thought he was worth 11 million a year at most. After this season, I think he's somewhere around 15-17 million a year. He was a very good player, but there is no way he's worth 18-23 million a year. Plus, it was just one very good season. He's gotta prove it for a couple of more years.

If he's doing this because he plans to sign for big money in a couple of years, then I honestly won't feel bad about losing him to another team that throws 25+ million at him. Unless of course he averages like 24/6/4 over the next couple of seasons and we're on the brink of winning a title... but I doubt that's gonna happen.

This is another risky move by Jimmy. A year ago he was offered what seemed to be a fair deal at the time [ like 4-years, 44-48 million?] but he turned it down. He bet on himself and it paid off because now he could potentially get 5-years, 90+ million. If he signs a 2-3 year deal and then struggles, he could kiss a big deal goodbye.

clonetrooper264 · Jun 17, 2015

BNB said:
When the salary cap rises, how much is Butler really gonna be worth though? Before this past season, I thought he was worth 11 million a year at most. After this season, I think he's somewhere around 15-17 million a year. He was a very good player, but there is no way he's worth 18-23 million a year. Plus, it was just one very good season. He's gotta prove it for a couple of more years.

If he's doing this because he plans to sign for big money in a couple of years, then I honestly won't feel bad about losing him to another team that throws 25+ million at him. Unless of course he averages like 24/6/4 over the next couple of seasons and we're on the brink of winning a title... but I doubt that's gonna happen.

This is another risky move by Jimmy. A year ago he was offered what seemed to be a fair deal at the time [ like 4-years, 44-48 million?] but he turned it down. He bet on himself and it paid off because now he could potentially get 5-years, 90+ million. If he signs a 2-3 year deal and then struggles, he could kiss a big deal goodbye.

Either way, I don't see how the Bulls lose. If he proves himself worthy of a huge deal, we can give it to him no problem. If he's not and we lose him because someone overpays, we have basically no one on the books and can rebuild from the ground up hopefully around Doug and Niko. And no matter what, we get him in the best years of his prime.

Scoot26 · Jun 17, 2015

clonetrooper264 said:
Either way, I don't see how the Bulls lose. If he proves himself worthy of a huge deal, we can give it to him no problem. If he's not and we lose him because someone overpays, we have basically no one on the books and can rebuild from the ground up hopefully around Doug and Niko. And no matter what, we get him in the best years of his prime.

You do know that sounds awful right?

clonetrooper264 · Jun 17, 2015

Scoot26 said:
You do know that sounds awful right?

THEY WILL BE STARS I SAY :kermit:

Or if they suck there's still loads of cap room so whatever

Scoot26 · Jun 17, 2015

clonetrooper264 said:
THEY WILL BE STARS I SAY

Or if they suck there's still loads of cap room so whatever

I have much higher hopes for Mirotic than Doug.

I think Doug can only be good if his supporting cast is better than him.. Like he'll be the solid starter, but like the worst of the starting 5..Thinking like what Korver is with Atlanta.

clonetrooper264 · Jun 17, 2015

Scoot26 said:
I have much higher hopes for Mirotic than Doug.

I think Doug can only be good if his supporting cast is better than him.. Like he'll be the solid starter, but like the worst of the starting 5..Thinking like what Korver is with Atlanta.

Probably. I just figure those guys might be the only ones left by 2017 assuming Hoiberg gets the most out of them. Snell might be around too I guess. Who knows what happens with Rose.

Report: Butler Plans to Pursue Shorter-Term Offer Sheets; Lakers a Possibility?

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