It was Zach LaVine’s “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” moment.
Late last season, the Bulls guard was entering his first offseason as an unrestricted free agent with a huge payday awaiting, but also finally being on a team that was playoff-bound for the first time in his eight-year career.
All the while, his injured left knee was betraying him on a daily basis.
His choice was to play through it, publicly downplay the severity even at the cost of performance, and deal with the consequences.
“Me at 80%, 70%, whatever it is, I’m still one of the best players in the NBA and damn sure one of the best players on the court when we play,’’ LaVine insisted last March.
Admirable, but not entirely true, as he wasn’t even the best player on his own team in that second half.
The Sun-Times reported in April that LaVine was actually operating closer to 50%, as the source went on to say that getting him ready for games was an almost all-day procedure.
Fast-forward to the start of this NBA season, and LaVine sounded like a man who had a bunch of weight lifted off his shoulders.
Then again, getting a max contract for $215 million over the next five years has that effect.
“I just feel good,’’ LaVine told reporters after playing in three of the four preseason games.
And not just because of his new tax bracket, but because of the cleanup surgery last spring that now has him playing basketball without limitations.
“I think that’s been the main thing, not having any aches and pains, and being able to go out there and really play without any limitations in my own mind, like, ‘OK, I can’t go left,’ or ‘I might not be able to dunk on this play.’ ‘’ LaVine said. “You’re not supposed to be thinking that way when you play basketball. I dealt with that a lot last year.’’
And it showed.
LaVine emerged from the 2021 summer with Team USA looking like a player that finally understood the importance of dominating on the offensive end, but also being an irritant on the other side of the floor.
In his run to an Olympic gold medal, LaVine’s role on that team was to pick up the opposing guard full-court and disrupt the offense.
It’s a mindset that he kept at the start of his Bulls season.
With LaVine, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso, the Bulls’ backcourt opened last season as a nightly headache for opponents. Whether it was getting out in transition or simple deflections to disrupt timing, the Bulls were among the leaders in steals and deflections.
But by the end of November, LaVine’s left knee became an issue, and his defensive numbers began a nose-dive.
With the surgery and rehab now in his rear-view mirror, there are still questions entering the season tipoff with the Heat on Wednesday in Miami (6:30 p.m., NBCSCH, 670-AM), as well as no clear plan on how LaVine and the coaching staff will handle his workload this season.
“I’m going to still do some maintenance,’’ LaVine said of the knee. “That’s just the truth about it. ... I’ve had two knee surgeries now, and I have to understand that I have to do the little extra things to make sure I’m feeling my best every game.’’
What will this latest version of LaVine look like on both ends of the floor? Wednesday night in South Beach will be a good place to start answering that question.
