CHICAGO — Jimmy Butler is going to get paid next summer.
The Chicago Bulls failed to reach an extension with the fourth-year shooting guard by Friday’s deadline, setting Butler up to be a restricted free agent in the summer of 2015. It’s a risky decision, a gamble that Butler isn’t going to play himself into a hefty contract this season. And in this market, that’s a bet the Bulls will probably lose.
Butler has maintained all along that he wants to be a Bull, and there’s no doubt that the organization values him highly. Certainly, defense-obsessed head coach Tom Thibodeau would hate to lose his best perimeter defender.
"Jimmy knows how we feel about him," Thibodeau said before the Bulls' Friday home opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers. "This is all part of the process. He's earned the right [to test the market], he's put himself in a great position. In the end, it'll all work out."
The Bulls’ efforts to lock up Butler at a discount were unlikely to be successful in any case, but after the Utah Jaz ...
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Article written by Sean Highkin