Jimmy Butler has always fervently believed in himself, enough so that he now seems to think he can circumvent the collective bargaining agreement.
While the Chicago Bulls restricted free agent has been adamant that he wants to remain with the team, he's now hoping to head elsewhere, according to Mark Medina of Los Angeles Daily News. Specifically, Butler would like to land with the Los Angeles Lakers, and do so on a one-year deal.
From Medina:
Lastly, Chicago forward Jimmy Butler hopes to take his talents elsewhere and take advantage of the new television deal after his career year coincided with Tom Thibodeau's firing and Derrick Rose's chemistry issues. Although Butler wants to sign a one-year deal with the Lakers, according to a league source familiar with his thinking, the Bulls are expected to match any offer for the restricted free agent.
This jibes with reports from earlier in June that Butler wanted to seek a short-term maximum offer sheet in order to quickly re-enter free agency in a more advantageous market after the salary cap has exploded. It also continues to fuel speculation that Butler and Derrick Rose aren't exactly BFFs, an idea the organization has continued to try to dispel.
The primary incongruity in the report is that Butler can't sign a one-year max deal with the Lakers. An offer sheet to a restricted free agent has to be at least two years, and it has to be at least three years if the Bulls give Butler the five-year, $90-plus-million maximum qualifying offer, as they did Monday. Even if the Lakers offered him the short-term max, the Bulls have the option to match any offer.
Butler's agent is probably trying to get some leverage with this kind of report, though it may be fruitless - the Bulls have no incentive to give Butler a shorter deal unless they have to match an offer.
The only recourse Butler has for getting out of Chicago within the next three seasons is to play out the season on his $4.4-million qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent next summer. That's an incredibly risky move - it leaves an estimated $86.5 million in guaranteed money on the table - but Butler's rolled the dice on himself before, and here he is, on the precipice of an enormous payday.
The league's Most Improved Player this season, the 25-year-old Butler averaged 20 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.8 steals while playing aggressive and disruptive perimeter defense. He's worthy of a maximum contract, and should he take the risk and remain healthy for 2015-16, he'll be worth the appreciably larger maximum next summer.
