Jul 1, 2015 Jimmy Butler has agreed to a five-year, $95 million maximum contract to re-sign with the Chicago Bulls, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Butler, 25, had rejected the Bulls' offer of a four-year, $44 million contract extension in October with the belief that a breakout season would enhance his value on the restricted free-agent market this summer. He averaged a career-best 20 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists, developed into a dependable 3-point threat and was named the NBA's Most Improved Player of the Year. "It came down to me deciding that I want to bet on myself," Butler told Yahoo Sports in October. "It was about me believing that I put the work in this summer to become a better player with the hope that my improvement will give the Bulls a better chance to win a championship." Several teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers, had expressed interest in signing Butler to an offer sheet before he came to a quick agreement with the Bulls. The Bulls took Butler with the 30th and final pick of the 2011 NBA draft out of Marquette. He steadily improved in each of his four seasons under former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/source...95-million-contract-with-bulls-034711922.html
Jul 6, 2015 Just imagine if we gave him what he was asking for last October. He would have easily been the most underpaid player in the league.
Jul 6, 2015 Just like he said, it was a win-win for everybody. We got an all star and he got the raise he thought he deserved. I remember when he got drafted, never in my dreams did I think he could be this good. He's honestly one of the best success stories in league history. The guy was homeless in HS, his mom hated the sight of him, and now he's got a 100 million dollar contract for the Chicago Bulls.
Jul 6, 2015 It'll be interesting to see how he plays with Hoiberg in town now. A lot of players that have had success on the Bulls have been a success because of the system.
Jul 6, 2015 Was surprised about this, thought he was for sure going to LA but the Lakers f---ing s--- at bringing in free agents.
Jul 6, 2015 They rely too much on the "playing in LA factor" which is starting to go downhill it seems. DJ turned down the Clips to play in Dallas and Greg Monroe turned down NY to play in Milwaukee.... Lol Milwaukee? Small markets taking over.
Jul 7, 2015 There was nothing the Lakers could do about it. He was a RFA, so the Bulls had matching rights to any offer sheet he signed. Since the Bulls extended a max qualifying offer, which is 5 years 95 million, any team trying to get him to sign an offer sheet had to have a minimum of 3 option-less years. The Bulls would have matched any offer he got, so it was pointless for LA to even put something together since they wouldn't have been able to sign anybody else because the offer sheet would have put a hold on like 15 million of their cap space for 3 days (max amount of time a team has to match a RFA offer sheet) until the Bulls matched.
Jul 7, 2015 Least shocking news of free agency was Bulls maxing Butler. I swear some of these fans have no clue what the word "restricted" means. Buckets, Kawhi and Dray were all getting brought back no matter what.
