Zach Lavine accepts his new role to be behind Acuff: “This isn’t for me anymore. I have to try and support him the best I can….I’m trying to be in the best support role I can for him. He’s gonna be real special, man.”
Wow there’s very very few ppl in the league with lavines level of talent that can willingly step aside for the new guy props to him
He’s publicly shat on consistently and his contact is dying on the most shat on team in the league. I gotta imagine it takes some mental fortitude to endure that no matter the paycheck.
People think making money makes you emotionless and immune to everything it’s hilarious
No matter how much money you make you will always care what people think especially if so many are against u
Gary from the Amazon warehouse will spend time this evening lifting his head from hours of video games to tell you why you’re wrong and he knows more about competitive drive and these NBA employees should shut up about their emotions and take their paycheck
I guess I understand the point your making but, I feel for my guy Gary too
There ain’t a lot of boys named Gary these days
It’s one of those Reddit things that drives me crazy. I’ve literally had people telling me that it’s absurd for wealthy people to be depressed, as if money magically ameliorates all mental health issues lol.
$597,163
That’s what Zach makes per game. He’s gunna be alright. Whole world can talk shit about me on twitter if they’re paying me that kind of money.
Not saying you’re incorrect, but there is a guy called Kevin Durant in this league, yanno?
Case in point
found Gary
Yeah I think he’s doing the right thing. Be professional, prove you can be a team player, ride it out till you can maybe come off the bench for a contender
In Chicago any drama that come out of him was just him wanting to win with the people in Chicago. His teammates always liked him.
He would do well on a contender with a more serviceable contract.
100%! The issues with all these bad “stars” is always their contracts. Look at how Tobias Harris is viewed now that he’s not taking up crazy amount of capspace
Harris is one of the most interesting cases in NBA history IMO. He’s more or less been the same guy for like 13 years in a row at this point. Efficient 3 level scorer, makes his free throws, decent wing player, takes care of the ball. Every team would love to have a guy like that. But maybe for like an entire decade, people treated him like he was the biggest waste of roster space or that he was single handedly ruining franchises. I get he was overpaid like hell and that plays a part in it. But it’s wild seeing how much hate he got for just being a good player his entire career.
Yeah, solid player but never should have been getting paid like an all star
I was praising PG last night in a thread for saying this type of thing about Tatum, but for Lavine to have this attitude about an incoming rookie at that is really impressive
True professional right there. What a class act.
Is he blinking SOS yet?
This is how a great teachers and coaches think. To completely sacrifice for someone younger than you to accomplish their goals is special.
Zach’s always been like this
Willingly is a funny word. He doesn’t have a choice in this matter lol
Of course he has a choice. He’s choosing to be mature and a veteran about this situation and that’s how he’s going to stay in the league for much longer as opposed to guys who are on the tail end of the career but their egos won’t allow them to let younger talent shine.
Agreed he has a choice in what to say to the media but he has no choice in his minutes. LaVine isn’t washed, he’s just overpaid and in the wrong situation in SAC. LaVine on a cheaper contract coming off the bench could be really valuable
have you seen sabonis?
Tell that to Carmelo Anthony
He’s a bad player so there’s probably a few of them
Lavine isn’t good and was never that good to begin with
He’s a good player who been miscast and given a better role than he should, he’s a great efficient scorer and shooter who should either be a 6th man or play in a team that can hide his defensive issues
Instead he’s played for the Bulls and Kings
if his contract was smaller he would have been great for the thunder
His contract expires now and i think a contender will get him for good value and he would be very good
Spurs imo are a way better fit, they actually really need a guard who can actually shoot and they have perimeter defenders and Wemby who can hide his awful defense
and timberwolves during their prime hell 😭
Timberwolves he took a step back to KAT/Wiggins too, so this isn’t a first for him
He had the exact wrong mindset in Chicago. He played iso/hero ball chucking threes with a team that was playing well when he went out of the lineup. If he bought into that team he could have been very solid.
They still needed a number 1 and he wasn’t it. But he made it way harder on himself than he needed to.
When exactly are you referring to?
Of course he’s good man, don’t be dumb.
Respect
i will always have love for zach
I really wish he could have gone to Denver for his shot at a ring. He looked great with Lonzo, I’d love to see him play with an even better passer in Jokic
Yes. Probably better fit than Derozan cuz Zach can cut and dunk like AG.
Ye, they are great dunkers. I wish they could go to the All Stars dunk contest, sure they do a pretty good job. I mean, they sure don’t do the top 5 contest of all time, but sure do a nice job
That was a fun what if Bulls team. Lonzo and Caruso were defensive demons
I would love to see a “what if” battle between the 10-11 Bulls and the 21-22 Bulls. Caruso and Ball trying to contain D Rose would be peak basketball
only two good teams we’ve had the last 25 years. plus that couple of months with rondo
I know he makes millions and no one feels sorry for them but it felt like playing for the Kings is a punishment. A place where players left to die.
Bulls fans will always appreciate Zach because he’s genuinely a good guy. Lots of times people think of him as some empty calories chucker, when in fact he’s hyper efficient. Should’ve been an off ball third option somewhere
Wet dream to see him on nuggets. They needed him as that 3rd option guy. They’ve always lacked that and lavine with a real playmaker would be crazy
That would be the perfect team to revive his stock
The Nuggets will probably pick him up; no matter what you can always count on the fact they’ll take one player who is towards the end of their hot career to play for the team
Just make sure to never play him with DeMar. That didn’t work out to well for us or the Bulls
They desperately need a perimeter threat
MPJ was a pretty great 3rd option for them
Never in the playoffs. He was avging single digits in the finals as well as his last playoff a with them. Also 10ppg vs the wolves in 2024.
Thats ass 3 straight playoffs.
think of him as some empty calories chucker, when in fact he’s hyper efficient
He’s kinda both. He’s an efficient scorer but has a ton of holes in his game, and doesn’t make his teammates better consistently.
Should’ve been an off ball third option somewhere
He’s making 48M though.
Hence should’ve
He would have had a hard time getting paid 48 million to be a third option
He wasn’t the biggest problem on the team. Yeah his contract but he was a professional.
I’m still not thrilled about AKME’s “team building”
Wish we actually built the right kinda roster for him to flourish. That ½ season of Zo is special to me
At one point in time, there was so much optimism for AKME after the fallout of GarPax.
Same, he was my favorite player for us for awhile and I was adamant in 2017 that we should’ve traded Wiggins instead of him for Jimmy and I think time has kind of proven me right. Wiggins had a better career no doubt but Zach was the better player.
I look back fondly on the DeBallZach days
That was the last time the Bulls were good, and it only lasted 40 games
Same
He’s going to be GREAT for whoever signs him to $25-30mil next year
I love Zach, but he’s not getting that much. He’s had one of the worst net rains in the league since going to Sac. I still think he can be a useful piece for a good team, but it’s not going to be for more than Norm Powell money if it’s a decent team.
If you love him so much, then why don’t you trade for him? He’s sounding like an excellent vet presence right now based on this clip!
id rather have zach over norm powell 1 billion times but it’s a closed chapter
It’s always a little confusing how someone with his head, athletic ability and shooting never really became a star.
Playing for the wolves, bulls and kings isn’t a great path for stardom in recent years
It was just his situation, he was never put in a situation to thrive.
idk man i think he might just be andrew wiggins with more highlights
Wiggins with a lot more offense and a bit less defense. Actually, it’s just a terrible comparison.
Wiggins is legit though lol. He was the second best player at times on a championship team.
He had max contracts during a time those weren’t given out to random 22 year olds. He was a star. He wasn’t a superstar which is what think you are really getting at. There are 15 superstars in the nba.
His bball iq is low
Lots of jump passes thrown out of bounds.
We don’t even get the passes. We just get the lose out of bounds part.
I forget which game it was but this memory of him with the ball down 1pt with like 22 seconds left and he takes a long 3, hand in his face, and misses and the ball bounces out of bounds, giving the possession back to the other team. I was screaming at the TV, “what are you doing?”. It was that moment I got off the Zach Lavine train.
He is a terrible number 1 and even an incomplete number 2 with how terrible his court vision and passing can be at times, and does not elevate teammates at all besides the spacing he provides.
I thought Flip Saunders (RIP) and Sam Mitchell had him on a good track. We ran a lot of sets through him and forced him to initiate instead of sitting on the wing like most score first twos.
Thibs destroys that core of KAT/Wiggs/Lavine, Zach tears his ACL and gets traded to Chicago and his career trajectory is changed.
Big what-if for me even if I’m biased
There’s an adult acting joke in this
Hes not that all athletic other than the leaping ability tho
That DeBallZach team you guys had before Zo went down was really fun
He’s an easy guy to root for or to hate. He visibly works his ass off, improved every year, then still sucks the big one on defense.
Last night on the last possession of the first half Acuff got the ball with not much time left, drove the right side and tried to initiate contact for a foul on the layup. He missed it badly but Zach was there to dap him up, he also ran to the ref and talked to him about how that should have been a foul, he got pushed etc etc.
I thought damn that’s a good vet for a young rookie right there, and how he’s the type of vet that would be great for a playoff team. If he didn’t make so much money I would love to have him on the raps
Come to the Heat. THJ already stinking up the joint on defense and offering zero offense. At least you can get buckets.
How can he come to the Heat tho . Dosent he make about 50 mill? I assume you mean next yrs free agency.
Wiggins + Jovic is all the Heat need to send to make it work. Kings wouldn’t do that though because we don’t want to have 2 bums on longer term contracts than Lavine’s expiring.
how is Jovic a bum, he’s a 3x MVP with a championship
Wrong Nikola
Man I haven’t been paying attention to the Heat much I thought Jovic could be intriguing for the Kings but checked his reference page and he has fallen off majorly since his 24-25 season. What happened to him?
It’s a confidence thing with him. Check out how well he plays for the Serbian national team when he’s got the green light. I just don’t think him and Spo see eye to eye, and that sucks for all parties involved
Which is why it sounds like exactly the move the Kings FO would make
you sure? team seems to be pretty full of em
Could trade Giannis for him!
Buyout
Plausible
I legit wonder if he’ll take a buyout or not.
Doubt it. He will be a free agent next year . Why give up a guaranteed 50 mill this year ?
waive and stretch?
Sad to see such a talent wasted .
Next year he can sign to a good team for 20 mil.
It’s actually good that he’s learning to be in a support role.
It’s weird because he is incredibly talent but also incredibly flawed. He jump high and shoot good, but goddamn does he make a lot of dumb decisions. That’d be okay if he was a good creator, defender, or wasn’t getting paid as much he is.
He is a ball stopper to some extent too. You just don’t get the consistent winning version of Zach, his decision making on when to shoot causes a lot of problems with offensive flow. However, it’s really more of a mark of how damn skilled he is. I don’t think there are many people in this league that you can expect to get a bucket, he’s freakishly good and it seems to stunt his own ability to defer sometimes lol like he’s the perfect guy to give the ball too once the play blows up and it’s go get a bucket time
He’d be perfect on a Jordan Clarkson type of role. Just not with that contract.
I really do think teams recognise Lavine’s skillset is valuable, just not for that $$$. I’m concerned Booker will be the next one too.
He’s never healthy lol if anything is on his body
Didn’t he just play 74 games two seasons ago?
If he accepts a lesser role and gets a bit load managed by a playoff caliber team he can do okay.
Talking about next season obviously, his current contract is impossible to work with.
In 12 previous seasons he has more than 60 games played 7 times. Being available just over 50% of the time he has played is still not healthy.
He has played 704 games over 12 seasons + 11 games this season. That is a 704⁄995 games - a bit over 70%
We’ll gladly take him.
If you hated Kumingas BBIQ, you’re gonna have a lot of fun with Lavine
He’s gotta be the all time nba leader in passing the ball with less than half a second left on the shot/game clock so it’s literally impossible to get a final shot off. Genuinely happens multiple times a game, he’s a master at the turnover that doesn’t end up on the stat sheet.
also driving into three defenders and hoping to get bailed out by a foul call
At least LaVine can shoot the 3 well lol.
1- Don’t run into the same spots as Steph2- Pass to Steph3- Shoot if open
You think he can’t do 1- ?
I agree that it’s the bare minimum but with his skillset just that would make him valuable.
The Warriors made things work with the negative BBIQs of Javale McGee and Buddy Hield. The problem with Kuminga was that he also had an ego.
A decade in the NBA isn’t talent wasted. Lots of good players never are on winning teams, doesn’t make their careers a waste
Happy for the Kings. The fans deserve more
Always felt Zach Lavine would be more popular if he wasnt on bad teams. Who’s a good past player comparison for him? Micheal Redd?
Zach lavine is like in the vince carter ilk. I mean he is/was a high flyer who can shoot 3s at high volume and is protypical ideal size for a pure shooting guard/wing. Very box office type of player + added history of not winning. Not saying he has anything close to the popular legacy of vc.
That’s a pretty good comp player wise. Vince was a pretty well known star for a bit there though.
Worse than Vince but better than Jason Richardson. All similar players
Richard Jefferson
Coincidentally early Demar.
Jamal Mashburn
He’s not a winning player, which is why he’s never on winning teams. He can put up gaudy stats every third game to keep his averages high but he sucks.
He has skills no doubt. He never won because he was never in a situation to actually win. So it’s circumstantial. Nothing here suggests he is not a winning player
He’s like if Aaron Gordon stayed in Orlando or just kept going for max contracts instead of taking a secondary role early on in his career. Once Lavine realized he is not good enough to be the best player on a good team he chose to keep getting max contracts instead of less money and a better winning situation.
Don’t get me wrong I would do the same that’s a ton of money to not take, but you can’t have both if you aren’t good enough to be #1 on a winning team.
I agree to an extent but also if players who were talented started taking smaller deals to go to winning teams we’d all shit on them for not being “competitive” and “teaming-up”. It feels like fans want it both ways as well.
He’s never been in a winning situation in the nba because any team with real championship aspirations is looking elsewhere. Hes an incredible athlete and as far as I can tell he’s a good guy, but his feel for the game is limited to his athleticism. When he puts up 15 points twice a week on mediocre efficiency it’s hard for his team to win, unless he’s the 6th man which he isn’t.
he’s on a max contract and he’s overpaid. it’s hard to be a winning situation when he’s your highest paid player.
He can shoot, he can handle, he can drive and attack the rim, can create for himself and he is uber athletic. All he needed is a proper coach and a team with a winning culture. I could see him thriving in Denver, Boston, San Antonio, Miami…
That pre-injury ridden bulls squad was legit. I will always wonder what would’ve happened if Lonzo and Caruso stayed healthy that year
As a bulls fan, I’mma disagree. That COVID season where we had the first seed until the Lonzo injury showed that you can have him work in a system, he just needs a primary ball handler who can distribute. Then Lonzo goes down and he has to generate offense and that’s when the problems occur.
How long did it take to click? Asking for a friend 😁
As a basketball connoisseur, lifelong bulls fan, and overall basketball junkie, I can unequivocally say that Zach Lavine doesn’t contribute to winning basketball. This isn’t just my opinion, it’s based on years of him performing at essentially the highest level he can perform while his teams are absolute cheeks. Idk what being a bulls fan has to do with anything.
Idk what being a bulls fan has to do with anything.
I mean it shows he probably watches the games lol
His contract is just too big. He’ll have one chance off this contract to be a high level roll player.
How can you say that when he’s never had a chance. Before ball got hurt those bulls were good
Please. Spare me. You guys act like he’s the type of dude to take a 20 win team to 60 wins, and he’s absolutely not that. He’s never elevated a team, ever.
He’s definitely not that but I imagine he could be a Khris Middleton on a playoff team
Casual take. If he’s a winning player winning teams would have traded for him. Thats the point. The fact that he’s on ‘losing teams’ (largely due to him since he’s the star taking max cap) for a decade untouched tells you how other teams view him).
Like Chicago has to throw picks to give Lavine away for a fringe AllStar Fox (who this sub thinks is bad), and Kings nosedived to bottom of the league while getting MORE assets. Lol. Tells you what you need to know.
Good teams don’t need Zach lavine that’s why they’re good teams
Nothing says casual take like he must be a bad player if he plays for a bad team lol
Grandma level analysis
Reddit take. Just like KAT had his haters everywhere then suddenly he wins a chip and it’s crickets. Nobody is saying Lavine has to be THE guy, but you’re insane if you don’t think he would make a team like Miami better. Problem is he’s not good enough for the money his stats demand.
Keep watching box scores kid.
Good teams don’t need Lavine, because all of them already had his role filled.
Then, if any team could have used another player like him, it’s not worth his contract size, or simply the contracts added up would gut depth, so still not worth it.
Plenty of examples of guys who aren’t winning players until they are. Have you ever heard of Kevin Garnett? Ray Allen? Rasheed Wallace? Jrue Holiday?
I’m not saying lavine is a winning player but your heuristic is very stupid.
Disagree tbh. It’s not like he’s some ball hog who takes 25 shots per game. Yes, he’s a ball dominant player, but that doesn’t mean he can’t have a role in a championship team as a ball dominant player. It doesn’t automatically mean you suck without the ball. The Bulls just haven’t had a complete or even average roster since Jimmy.
Disrespectful to Michael Redd.
Otis Birdsong
he’s like the opposite of an advanced stats demon because he’s not super efficient, doesn’t pass well and doesn’t defend at all. He needs to just like come off the bench somewhere but instead he’s being paid $50m as a top 3 option.
Hes anything but inefficient lol he may be the dumbest player in the league but he scores really well
dude shot almost 50/40/90 splits last season and his haters are saying he’s inefficient lol
What makes him the dumbest player?
What makes him a smart player?
Not efficient? Have you even looked at his stats? He’s shooting 39% from 3 for his career and has a TS% of 59%. That’s the same TS% as Luka.
He definitely doesnt deserve 50 mil a year but hes way too good of a shooter and scorer to come off the bench. Plenty of teams in the league would take and start him if he was bought out tomorrow.
I think he’d be best coming off the bench in an anfernee simons type role atp in his career, unless you put him on a team like the pelicans without 3pt shooting. He gets picked on every game and often gets scored on more than he scores
A good future player comparison would be Darius Acuff.
Antoine Walker
Honestly hard to think of a comparison because it’s very hard to remember players that were mostly just inefficient scorers on bad team.
Maybe JR Rider.
Bigger Monta
Man a team like Detroit or Denver could really use Lavine
Denver is desperate but their salary cap situation sucks
Definitely they’re not in a good spot 😭
Hearing him say “this isn’t for me anymore” is a bit sad to hear, would’ve loved to see him on a team in that Paul George role right now
Can they not trade him or nobody wants him?
He makes 50 mill.
No one can afford paying him 50 million. He will be a 6th/7th man on a good team next year making a lot less.
Some trades make sense for the other team like Quickley and poeltl but then what do the kings get out of it
the answer is picks but then a team like the Raptors in this example would be looking for a playoff level starting center to slot into Poeltl’s place and they’ll need to spend assets to get him too unless it’s someone like Sabonis over LaVine who is his own bad contract. It’s just all very messy and easy to just let LaVine expire. Things might look different closer to the trade deadline.
With the amount he’s paid vs what you actually get, there’s a large disparity between the two.
Lavine can get you a smooth 20 on any given night but will give up 30 on the defensive end. Now a playoff team can help mask some of his weaknesses but since he makes so much money, teams either have to gut the depth chart or trade bad contracts for him.
Kings are in a rough cap situation already and Lavine is expiring. It makes no sense for them to take on a bunch more long term money unless they get assets for him and nobody will deal assets because he’s on an albatross.
He’s gonna be an awesome sixth man for whoever picks him up next year
He shouldn’t be a sixth man if he’s still playing like this. He would fit the nuggets as a third option incredibly offensively but that would be rough on defense. Maybe the raptors
Contenders won’t want him in their starting five, nor should they. He’s best as a sixth man and there is little doubt in my mind about that.
This is one of the best comments I’ve ever seen on this site. You wrapped it up real nice. Respect.
There are teams that want him, but not with his contract. Fortunately he’s an expiring so that absolute worst case scenario he comes off the books at the end of the year.
No. He’s makes \(49 million this year. What team has \)49 million in salary worth of players they are willing to give up for him?
I’d imagine most teams don’t have an extra 50 million to burn. But also he’s a free agent this summer so no rush
Kings chose to hold onto him until his value was lowest for some reason
Its a Kings tradition
Why trade a player when he has value when you can get a worse deal or lose him for nothing?! #Kangzzsystem
What are we talking about lol. You think his value as an expiring contract is less than what it was last year when whoever traded for him would have been on the hook for an extra year of salary?
Yes his value now is lower due to his play lmao
Depends on if a buyout is on the table or not.
He’s still good but he makes 50 million so it’s hard for most good teams to take him on and slot him in at that salary
Next year he makes significantly less so the value would be a heck of a lot better and I imagine you’ll see him on a good team at that point
They need him for Acuff to grow. It’s not only the mentorship but it’s the attention a player like Lavine commands. If Darius was out there on his own, he’d get a lot more double teams and teams cheating on defense because they can.
Problem is all that damn money he makes. Kings would almost have to pay teams to take on the salary of Lavine or Sabonis.
Maybe Miami or Denver will bite. Lavine is a good player but he makes way too much for what he provides.
How would Denver swing this?
Knew it was over when they had the whole Kings staff grabbing Acuffs rebounds in practice
“I’m unc now.”
He’s trying to look extra mature so Miami will trade for him and I respect it.
Lavine is actually fine, Sabonis on the other hand though lol.
Crazy how Sabonis can be so good at such a valuable skill and still not considered worth the risk. Everybody needs a glass eating big with decent efficiency in scoring, but he couldn’t stop a pig in a corridor.
zach rocks. always enjoyed watching him play
That’s a great teammate right there. Hopefully he gets trades to a franchise that isn’t a complete embarrassment to sports.
Does he want to come back to the wolves for free (with some very lucrative endorsements?)
Did he just copy Paul George?
I mean they got similar careers except no one wants Zach
Paul George was battling Miami LeBron in the Eastern Conference Finals multiple times before turning 25 let’s not get crazy here.
Paul George also was on the MVP race when he was on OKC, Lavine was never
The Eastern Conference was complete ass cheeks by that point
How are their careers similar in any way? Wtf
They’re both professional basketball players, duh.
I would not call their careers similar at all. Zach Lavine is like last in history in plus minus and is overrated because of the flashy stuff he can do. Paul George is pretty much the opposite of that.
He has a pretty game and relatively efficient, it’s kinda impressive how he manages to not contribute to winning basketball.
He’s the anti-Derrick White
I fucking adore Zach LaVine, but he spent the majority of his career being the #1 option on the goddamn Bulls and as a 3rd/4th option type of player, while the only elite skill he had was scoring.
Tbf, he is “Vince Carter Lite” IMO, someone that is incredibly dangerous from the 3pt line and can jump over people for the dunk. But that’s all he can do. If the Bulls let him go earlier, he could have been akin to Aaron Gordon for the Nuggets (different skillset but you get the point).
The DeRozan-Lonzo-LaVine Bulls were so fun to watch before the effects of BBB shoes caught up with Lonzo. He did pretty good back then.
Honestly if you just looked at the box score you’d assume he was a top 10-15 player. Problem is, the game has offence AND defence. With his athletic ability you’d think someone could mentor him to being a net neutral defender. He looks like he’s on NBA Jam being controlled by a blind puppy.
it’s kinda impressive how he manages to not contribute to winning basketball.
Seriously- he’s one of those guys that make you realize just how important BBIQ is. How can you put the ball in the basket a lot, efficiently in a game about putting the ball in the basket a lot, efficiently, and still barely move the needle for a team trying to win?
I’ve also never heard Zach genuinely sound like he’s all in on anything other than getting a big extension before, so maybe he’s changed his ways.
No they don’t…lavine made the playoffs one time in his career
one of them has actual accolades
That’s two-time All-Star Zach LaVine to you!
He’s a good egg :)
Zach and PG are really out here embracing their support roles. You love to see it.
How many seasons do we gotta wait for Acuff’s trade request?
He will be in Sacramento for a while, he’ll probably sign a max extension.
8 if the Kings can’t turn it around with him in that time period it’ll be bad.
Yeah same as fox and DMC
Never. He’s getting a greenlight in Sacramento he wouldn’t get anywhere else. Fans seem to love him too.
Forever. The team will hold onto him until he’s almost about to make the playoffs and then trade him to the Pelicans.
8⁄9 years
Knowing the Kangz, they’ll package him for Alperen Sengun or something ridiculous.
Sengun x Sabonis would be a disgusting duo in the worst way
Now fire Christie
Zach lavine pt 2