Zach LaVine’s season is over.
The Bulls wing, the subject of trade rumors for much of this season, will undergo surgery on his troublesome right foot and will miss the remainder of the season, the Bulls announced Saturday.
Bulls’ coach Billy Donovan told NBC Sports Chicago he spoke with LaVine.
“I spent a little bit of time with him at shootaround, just talking and seeing how he was feeling. Obviously, he made a decision that he felt was best for his health. I really feel like he did everything he could to try to get himself back to playing. I think the discomfort in his foot was at a place where he just didn’t feel like he had any chance of being himself and contributing. And I think that was really frustrating and hard for him.
“Personally, I feel bad for him. I know how bad he wants to play. When he can’t be out there, it just bothers him. He just wants to play.”
LaVine had already missed 24 games this season due to injury and had tried to make a comeback, but that had lasted just seven games. On the season he averaged 19.5 points and 3.9 assists, with a 57.8 true shooting percentage that is right at the league average.
LaVine and the Bulls both were ready to part ways and he was the focus of numerous trade rumors, but there was not much of a market for him in large part because he is owed three years, $138 million after this season. Teams see LaVine as a top-flight shot-creator and isolation scorer, but his lack of defense and reputation as a guy who does not do the little things that lead to winning has teams hesitant to pull the trigger.
Nobody is going to trade for him before the deadline, the rumors will be quiet until this summer.
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