Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler has been impressive all season long. So impressive that the Los Angeles Lakers reportedly plan to make a make a max-offer to the soon-to-be restricted free agent after the season, making him the second player - Atlanta Hawks forward DeMarre Carroll, the other - whose performance in the 2015 NBA playoffs has moved him up the Lakers' wish list. Rajon Rondo, meanwhile, seemingly continues to slip down that list.
Butler entered the 2014-15 season with the reputation of being a lock-down defender, but his newfound ability score turned him into a two-way star and earned him the Most Improved Player of the Year award. He's played just as well in the playoffs, and he's showed his mettle by willingly accepting the nearly-impossible task of guarding LeBron James in Chicago's second-round series.
Butler has already caught the attention of a number of teams, and according to RealGM's Shams Charania, that now includes the Lakers.
"Outside of Chicago, teams are already preparing possible maximum-salary offer sheets for Butler in free agency, including the Los Angeles Lakers as one of several expected suitors, league sources told RealGM," Charania wrote Saturday.
Chicago has a history of not paying big money to its No. 3 star, which begs the question of whether the front office will match the max-offers Butler inevitably receives in the offseason. Common sense would say there's no way the Bulls let Butler walk, but the organization is by no means a lock to re-sign him since it means giving another player - Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah have a combined payroll of $33 million next season - a big payday.
As for Los Angeles, Butler is the second player not named Rondo whom the team recently has been linked to. A report last week claimed the Lakers were now eying Carroll, who'll become an unrestricted free agent in July.
A report in late April indicated the Lakers were no longer a lock to sign Rondo, as once thought, and now had doubts about whether he was even worth a max deal. Every report since has suggested Los Angeles is exploring other free-agent options, making it seem less and less likely a Rondo-to-Lakers deal happens if it hinges on a max contract.
