How much money is Jabari Parker worth a season?
The former No. 2 pick is coming off two ACL surgeries, which has given teams — including the Milwaukee Bucks, who have his rights — pause. Can he return to the form of a versatile a 20-point-a-game scorer? Will that make up for his defensive deficiencies?
The Chicago Bulls may be betting the answer is yes to both of those questions, something reported by Vincent Goodwill of NBC Sports Chicago.
Bulls are closing on a deal with Jabari Parker, according to sources. Internally, confidence growing it will get done. Bulls see him as SF
— Vincent Goodwill (@VinceGoodwill) July 13, 2018
Restricted free-agent forward Jabari Parker and the Chicago Bulls are progressing on an offer sheet deal, league sources told ESPN on Friday.
A deal could be finalized as soon as Sunday, league sources said.
One of two things is going on here.
1) The Bulls are putting this out there to create leverage on Oklahoma City to give up more sweeteners in a Carmelo Anthony trade. After a couple of recent moves, the Bulls have the cap space to do an Anthony for Cristiano Felicio deal (with most of Anthony’s salary going into the Bulls’ cap space), then waive Anthony (allowing him to become a Rocket). The question is what sweeteners are going to the Bulls in such a deal, and this could be Chicago management putting a little public pressure on OKC to up the offer.
2) The more likely reality seems to be they really do like the idea of the Chicago native Paker as the three, with Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr. rounding out the frontcourt (all paired with a Kris Dunn and Zach LaVine backcourt). Parker has played more than a third of his minutes the past couple of seasons as a three, he’s good on the catch-and-shoot (better than a point per possession), can get out and score in transition, and is a better pick-and-roll ball handler than people realize. It’s not a bad fit, especially compared to the Paul Zipser/Denzel Valentine options.
I’m not sure how well all of those guys fit together in a Fred Hoiberg selfless/move-the-ball offense, but it’s not a gamble — at the right price. And for the right number of years.
Which brings us back to the original question at the top of this article: How much money is Jabari Parker worth a season? More than $15 million? How much and how many years will the Bulls be willing to put out there to see if this works (and they have to go big enough that the Bucks will not match, go too low and he stays in Milwaukee).
We’ll find out over the weekend, it looks like.
