Six years ago, the Chicago Bulls traded Jimmy Butler, ending an era of Bulls basketball. In return, they received Kris Dunn, a soon-to-be sophomore guard, the seventh pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, which turned into Lauri Markkanen, and Zach LaVine. While Dunn and Markkanen didn’t end up working out long-term, LaVine did.
Nowadays, LaVine is the best player in Chicago, and last summer, the Bulls inked him to a shiny new extension worth $215 million over five years. LaVine has blossomed throughout his tenure in Chicago, making two All-Star teams and helping them snap a four-year playoff drought. But early in his life, LaVine was just another kid trying to find a place to hoop.
