The Sacramento Kings will play the role of spoiler and attempt to make a run at Chicago Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine, who will be a restricted free agent entering the July 1 window, according to K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune.
The Bulls have plans to be rather aggressive in this offseason, likely darting offers to other restricted free agents like Aaron Gordon and Julius Randle, and unrestricted ones like Mario Hezonja.
LaVine is expected to be retained by the Bulls, but the Kings could make a substantial offer of four years for roughly $80 million, which would give Chicago 72 hours to match.
The Kings only have $18.7 million in cap space so far, but could make moves to free up even more, which could step up that offer to the max of four years and $108 million, which would make the Bulls think twice before matching, given the short sample size they've seen from LaVine since returning from a season-ending torn ACL injury.
LaVine averaged 16.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists while shooting 38.3 percent from the field and 34.1 percent from deep over 24 games. His numbers expressed some hope, but are far from what the Bulls expected to get after the UCLA product came awfully close to the 20-point scoring mark during his last season with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Kings could test just how far the Bulls are willing to go to keep him this summer, and they intend to do so knowing that their young assets like Lauri Markkanen and Kris Dunn will need a raise and a long-term promise soon in order to remain with the team.
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