LaVine agrees to 5-year $215m deal to stay with Bulls
>>LOS ANGELES: Zach LaVine has agreed to a five-year maximum NBA deal worth US$215 million to remain with the Chicago Bulls, his agents announced on Friday.
Klutch Sports Group also announced that Jusuf Nurkic has agreed to a fouryear contract worth $70 million to stay with the Portland Trail Blazers and John Wall has agreed to a two-year deal worth $13.2 million to play for the Los Angeles Clippers.
The deals come on the first full day of NBA free agency for the 2022-23 campaign. Most deals are announced by agents or reports but no actual NBA contracts can be signed before Wednesday.
LaVine, 27, helped last year’s US Olympic team bring home Tokyo gold and then completed a second straight NBA All-Star campaign with 24.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists a game over 67 contests for the Bulls.
After missing the play-offs for four consecutive seasons, Chicago went 46-36 and made the post-season, losing to Milwaukee in the first round. LaVine underwent left knee surgery in May.
Bosnian big-man Nurkic, 27, has spent the past six seasons with Portland after playing his first three NBA campaigns for Denver.
Nurkic averaged 15.0 points, a career-high 11.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals a game for the Trail Blazers last season.
Portland went 27-55 and missed the play-offs for the first time since 2013.
Wall, a 31-year-old US guard taken first in the 2010 NBA Draft by Washington, has averaged 19.1 points, 9.1 assists and 4.3 rebounds a game over nine seasons with the Wizards and last season in Houston.
Other reported deals struck in the first hours of NBA free agency have centre Mitchell Robinson staying with the New York Knicks, according to ESPN and the New York Daily News, on a four-year deal worth $60 million while Gary Payton II joins Portland on a three-year deal for $28 million, also according to ESPN.
Spanish guard Ricky Rubio, 31, has reportedly reached a deal on a threeyear contract worth $18 million with the Cleveland Cavaliers.