The Chicago Bulls are now on the same page with both Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade.
After taking some time following the end of the season, the Bulls finally met with Butler, a powwow that ended up going very well. Now they’ve also met with Dwyane Wade—after Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Although nothing definitive came out of the face-to-face, the sit-down went well, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune:
The meeting, which was described as positive and came on the heels of a similar meeting between management and Butler earlier last week, covered a wide variety of topics, including the possibilities for next season’s team, one source said.
Wade has until June 27 to decide on his $23.8 million player option to return to the Bulls next season. The Bulls haven’t pressed Wade on his decision out of respect for the process. But the franchise has been preparing for Wade to opt in all along, and most league observers believe Wade will return.
All signs now point toward the Bulls running it back next year with largely the same core. That was always the most likely outcome, since Wade is beyond unlikely to leave $23.8 million on the table and the front office is enamored with Rajon Rondo. But these recent meetings seem to suggest that the Bulls are steering into the status quo, preparing themselves for another year of the same core.
This is neither good nor bad. The Three Alphas came together for a minute, before Rondo’s injury, during the first two games of their first-round series with the Boston Celtics, but we haven’t yet seen enough to know whether they can yield the same results over a longer period of time. And yet, there’s no guarantee the Bulls can pivot into something different. Wade needs to opt out for them to have meaningful cap space, so if he’s coming back, they might as well keep Rondo and see what they have.
After all, this is only for one year. Both Rondo and Wade will be off the books next summer, at which point, with Butler one year out of free agency, the Bulls will be nearing a more organic fork in the road.
This next year, assuming everyone returns, is about figuring out whether they need to change directions for good.
