Zach LaVine, Bulls agree to $215.2 million, five-year max contract

Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

Zach LaVine was never going to another team.

The two-time All-Star made that very clear both publicly and behind the scenes, as did the Bulls’ front office time and time again throughout the 2021-22 season.

That’s why it took less than 24 hours for the two sides to reach a verbal agreement on a max contract that will pay LaVine $215.2 million over the next five years with the final year being LaVine’s option.

According to a source, the Bulls and LaVine did have a formal meeting on Thursday — the first day teams could negotiate with free agents — and the guard also met with several other suitors. But the Bulls were always the frontrunners in his mind, and where LaVine told his core teammates would be his immediate destination.

One source said that LaVine was so adamant about re-signing with the Bulls going into the offseason that he at first didn’t even want to go through the formality of taking a meeting with them, choosing to just hear what other organizations were offering.

Klutch Sports, however, wanted the guard to get the full free-agent experience before making his intentions known on Friday.

He did just that.

In bringing back the 27-year-old, it showed just how serious the front office of Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley were when “continuity’’ was the buzzword throughout the exit and offseason interviews.

The belief from that group was that when healthy the Bulls were a top-tier team in the Eastern Conference, and this offseason was more about adding tweaks to an already existing core of LaVine, Nikola Vucevic, DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, Patrick Williams, Alex Caruso and Ayo Dosunmu.

The first piece of that came on draft night when they selected defensive specialist Dalen Terry 18^th overall, and then on the first day of free agency they locked in on agreeing with veteran big man Andre Drummond to a two-year, $6.6 million deal.

Derrick Jones Jr. was brought back on a similar deal to Drummond’s, but this offseason was always about LaVine and making sure he was rewarded for doing things the right way by improving each season, playing through injuries, and emerging as a team leader.

“I understand the relationship that I have with Arturas and everybody here,’’ LaVine said in his exit interview when asked about being a Bull long-term. “I’ve been here for the last five years and I’ve really enjoyed my time. I think the city and I hope everybody understands how much I care about the Bulls and what I’ve done for the city and things like that.’’

So now what?

The Drummond signing helped with one major issue this group had last season, specifically in the rebounding department. But the big isn’t the rim protector that Karnisovas said they were seeking this summer, and he does very little in the pick-and-roll game defensively.

Then there’s the career 47.3% from the free-throw line, which screams that Drummond is all but unplayable in late-game situations.

Jones does offer some rim protection, especially for his size, but not against the league’s premiere big men.

The other red flag to come out of Day 2 of free agency was veteran stretch shooter Danilo Gallinari getting very similar offers from Boston and the Bulls, but opting to play with the Celtics. The Bulls front office may feel like they were building a contender, but Gallinari’s decision said otherwise.

And now with very little money to spend, as well as 14 players currently under contract, the bow can basically be put on the Bulls’ free-agent offseason.

The only way “continuity’’ gets blown up at this point? The Sun-Times reported that the Bulls did do their due diligence in the Kevin Durant trade sweepstakes, but currently didn’t fit the profile of what the Nets were looking for in return. Could that change? Unlikely, but as the last few days have shown the NBA is as unpredictable as it gets.