NBA
Chicago Bulls Trying To Manage On-Court Disconnect Between Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan
Zach Wolpin is an NBA and NFL expert who's been betting on the league for over three years now. Wolpin has been a fan of the NBA and has been watching for a decade and a half. He covers the latest news and stories surrounding the league daily. His passion in life is watching sports and being able to share that through his sports writing. He has written about the NBA and other sports leagues through various media outlets over the years like Sir Charles In Charge, G-Men HQ, and TAP into South Plainfield. Before he became an NBA News Writer, Wolpin attended Montclair State University where he graduated in 2021. He studied Sports Media and Writing while in school.
All posts by Zach WolpinUpdated20 Dec 2022
The 2022-23 season has not started how the Chicago Bulls intended it to. This time last year the Bulls were 19-10 and the same cannot be said for their 11-18 record this season. Chicago are 3-7 in their last ten games and are also on a four-game losing streak. On top of the losing that the Bulls have been doing, news and rumors are now coming out that their two biggest stars are dealing with on-court disconnect.
Chicago finished as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference last season and lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs. The Bulls wanted to build off their success last year and bring it into the 2022-23 season, but that hasn’t happened. Two of their biggest stars are trying to work through some ongoing questions about whether they can play together for the rest of this season and beyond. Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan are the all-stars who seem to be at a crossroads.
NBA betting sites have the Bulls at (+20000) to win the Finals this season.
Multiple league sources and sources close to the Bulls organization say Zach LaVine and the Bulls are not seeing eye-to-eye, per @ShamsCharania pic.twitter.com/mG4hPr1PrT
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) December 20, 2022
What does the future hold for Chicago’s two all-stars?
Anonymous league sources have said that the Bulls have help a number of team meetings this season to try and resolve their on-court issues. This even included a one-on-one meeting between Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan. The two have a mutual respect for each other and just last season the stars proclaimed themselves as the NBA’s best duo. The meetings have not lead to on-court results and everyone involved is starting to get frustrated. LaVine had this to say on the matter.
“I think everybody goes through ups and downs, just like every team does,”… “Obviously if we’re not winning games, not everybody’s going to be happy. It’s not going to look as good as it was before. It’s all glitter and show when you’re winning games. But when you’re losing games and you’re trying to do the same things it’s turmoil. Everybody has their right to their own opinion. For me, I keep my head down. I work on my game and try to help my team. I help try to lead the team. That’s where I stand. I just try to take it day by day and evaluate how we’re doing.” – Zach LaVine
Diving even further, multiple league sources have also said that LaVine and the Bulls are “not seeing eye-to-eye”. There’s been a feeling of strong disconnect throughout the franchise regarding his situation with the team. Remember, this is all happening in the first season of his five-year, $215 million deal that was signed this summer. As in every sport, winning cures all and if Chicago can turn their season around, this will all be left in the past.
