BUTLER TRYING RECRUIT REBOOT

But landing Raptors point guard Lowry in free agency appears highly unlikely

Jimmy Butler is a big proponent of the NBA’s recruiting process.

His call to Dwyane Wade helped close that deal last summer, and Butler has been working his phone, talking to potential free agents about the 2017 offseason going back almost 12 months.

His time with Team USA was good for the Butler brand, and it also allowed him to get in the ear of Paul George, Kyle Lowry or any player who’d listen.

The problem Butler and the Bulls are facing this summer, however, is timing.

General manager Gar Forman was beating his chest about fiscal responsibility during the league’s last few free- agent spending sprees but has painted the franchise into a corner with the contracts of Wade and Rajon Rondo.

As long as Butler is still a Bull when Wade has to decide on his $ 23.8 million player option at the end of June, you can pencil in that final year of his deal to the Bulls’ payroll. Then there’s Rondo; the Bulls can pay him $ 13.4 million to stay or $ 3 million to go away.

Forman and vice president of basketball operations John Paxson indicated they want Rondo back, which means any chance of landing a big- name free agent is all but gone.

But what if Butler has a wink- and- a- smile deal in place with Lowry already? Would the front office gamble on letting Rondo go and enter free agency in July with the hopes Lowry would accept a deal that would pay him about $ 6 million a year less than he would get anywhere else for leaving Toronto?

Unlikely. That’s why Rondo and Wade likely will return, leaving the Bulls to hope that improvement will come from within. It will be a crucial summer for the development of Denzel Valentine, Cameron Payne and Jerian Grant.