The Bulls are on the verge of agreeing to a deal with free agent forward Jabari Parker, according to league sources.
It's unknown whether Parker, a restricted free agent who has a qualifying offer from the Milwaukee Bucks, will sign an offer sheet from the Bulls or if the Bucks will rescind the offer sheet, allowing the Bulls to sign him as an unrestricted free agent.
A source tells NBCSportsChicago a deal is more likely to get done in days rather than something imminent.
The activity comes one day after the Bulls rescinded their qualifying offer on David Nwaba, freeing up an additional $1.7 million in cap room to their already league-leading space.
Part of the Bulls' pitch to Parker is that he would start at small forward. Through four seasons Parker has played 69 percent of his minutes at power forward, per Basketball Reference, but has seen his game become more perimeter-oriented the last two seasons; Parker has made 96 3-pointers the last two seasons after making 13 in his first two NBA seasons.
Parker's NBA career has been a mixed bag through four years. The 6-foot-8 power forward has suffered torn ACLs on two different occassions - in 2015 and 2017 - and missed 145 of a possible 328 games.
When healthy Parker has shown a versatile scoring skill set that's allowed him to average 15.3 points in four seasons. He was in the middle of a breakout campaign in 2017, averaging 20.1 points on 49 percent shooting, before suffering his second torn ACL.
NBA
He returned from his second ACL rehab in February of this past season and averaged 12.6 points in 31 games. His defense has come into question, and there are concerns about how he'd fit on a Bulls team that ranked 28th in efficiency.
Parker became a legend in Chicago at Simeon Career Academy, becoming the second player in state history to start for four state championship teams. Parker was also the first player in the state to be named Mr. Basketball twice, and he was a McDonald's All-American in 2013.
It's unknown how he'll fit on the Bulls' roster given their surplus of bigs. They already have Robin Lopez and Wendell Carter Jr. at center, while Lauri Markkanen is a surefire starter and Bobby Portis was one of the league's best reserves a year ago. Parker isn't a power forward in the traditional sense but his lateral quickness leaves plenty to be desired, making him a sub-optimal fit as a small forward.
The Bucks were aggressive in free agency, signing forward Ersan Ilyasova to a three-year deal and center Brook Lopez to a one-year deal. After those deals the team is about $15 million below the hard salary cap, giving them little wiggle room to make a Parker deal work should the Bulls sign him to an offer sheet.