Things aren't looking good for the Chicago Bulls 29 games in, sitting at 11-18, which puts them in 11th place in the East. Because of their poor start, there have been rumors of tension between star duo Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan, who were both All-Stars last season. According to The Athletic, the Bulls have conducted numerous meetings for the two to work out their on-court issues face-to-face, but it hasn't yet translated to success.

On Tuesday, LaVine spoke out on the matter and how he's trying to get things back on track.

“I think everybody goes through ups and downs, just like every team does,” LaVine said. “Obviously if we’re not winning games, not everybody’s going to be happy. It’s not going to look as good as it was before. It’s all glitter and show when you’re winning games. But when you’re losing games and you’re trying to do the same things it’s turmoil. Everybody has their right to their own opinion. For me, I keep my head down. I work on my game and try to help my team. I help try to lead the team. That’s where I stand. I just try to take it day by day and evaluate how we’re doing.

“There’s a certain level of frustration in people trying to figure out what we can do to help right the ship,”
Zach LaVine told The Athletic. “I think with the players that we have, we try to put it on each other to right the ship. We have those type of guys, those type of mentalities where each of us have been number one options on a team before and then we all come together collectively. It’s not going to take one person. It’s going to take all of us as a unit. I think that’s what guys are trying to figure out how to help the group.”

LaVine and DeRozan have always had mutual respect for one another. Most importantly though, LaVine isn't seeing eye to eye with the Bulls organization, which isn't the best sign considering he's in the first season of a five-year, $215 million supermax extension. That's led to speculation that Chicago could blow up their core completely and trade LaVine and DeRozan. In fairness though, outside of these two, there's been little production. the only other double-digit scorer in Nikola Vucevic.

In 25 games in 2022-23, Zach LaVine is averaging 21.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.1 assists on 36% shooting from deep. The absence of point guard Lonzo Ball is surely being felt by the Bulls, but they still need to figure things out ASAP or else this roster may look a lot different come February.