Zach LaVine, Chicago Bulls
Generally, you get the payday after the breakout season. However, the Chicago Bulls gave the benefit of the doubt to their young player and are hoping for a breakout season out of LaVine after paying him what they believe he’s worth this summer.
Before you say anything, I know he averaged 19 points during his final season with the Minnesota Timberwolves two years ago before tearing his ACL. But this is a player that was shooting in the 30 percentiles when he returned from injury last season with Chicago. Albeit, it was a small sample size. Still, it wasn’t a great showing for a player who is supposed to be part of their core.
That’s why the Bulls have to be praying for a breakout season to come out of LaVine. The scoring doesn’t really need to change all that much, because he can score with the best of them, but he needs to be much more efficient for him to be any kind of effective in today’s game.