LaVine's goals remain the same after max contract

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To understand the mentality that has fueled Zach LaVine’s rise, look no further than his comments the night he earned the first All-Star selection of his NBA career.

“I want to be an NBA champion,” LaVine told reporters on that February night in 2021 when asked about future achievements in his sights. “As an individual thing, that’s something that you want to do. You want to be the MVP of a championship team.”

Later, while acknowledging the importance of team success to individual accolades, he added: “I can see myself as an All-NBA team person. If I continue to up my defense and being consistent, I can see myself as an All-Defensive team guy.”

He wasn’t kidding. And he wasn’t finished.

The ensuing summer, LaVine embraced a lesser, but critical, role for a USA Basketball team that won a gold medal in Tokyo. The following NBA season, he made his second consecutive All-Star appearance, and, playing through a balky knee for the majority of the second half, helped lead the Chicago Bulls to their first winning season and playoff berth since 2017.

The fruits of that labor, and the seasons of linear improvement before it, culminated in LaVine signing a five-year, $215.2 million max contract with the Bulls this offseason.

"It's just a compliment of a lot of hard work and showing what kind of player I am," LaVine told reporters on Monday.

Make no mistake: After years of perceived slights and objectively being underpaid for his production — on an offer sheet the Bulls matched from the Sacramento Kings in 2018, rather than extending themselves — the recognition that such a gaudy payday connotes means something to LaVine.

But it shouldn’t surprise anyone that it changes little about his mindset as a basketball player.

“I think it's just a credit to my hard work. I think I've had the same work ethic and the same goals before the contract, after the contract,” LaVine said when asked what being a “max” player means to him, and if any added pressure comes with it.

“There's no extra added pressure. It's just who I am, and what goals and what things I want to reach, and how much better can we get as a team."

Indeed, LaVine is a goal-setter, a trait to which he attributes much of his success. Those haven’t changed either.

“Individually, wanting to keep pushing myself to reach higher and higher things. If it isn't All-NBAs, if it isn't MVPs, team-wise, it's win a championship. I think there's nothing above that,” LaVine said. “You've heard me say individual things come with winning, and the better and better we get as a team, and I keep pushing myself to get better as a player, I think those things can match up.”

The Bulls’ front office decision-makers have placed plenty of trust in LaVine — both through this monetary commitment, and their open ears for input on personnel decisions over the last two seasons. 

In those two years, the franchise has completely overhauled its roster around LaVine, added Nikola Vučević, Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso and DeMar DeRozan, and returned to postseason action, a longstanding goal of the two-time All-Star.

Now, the challenge is to continue building, which LaVine and the Bulls hope comes with continuity from the current core.

"Getting chemistry on the court, that doesn’t just happen one or two years," LaVine said. "All the good teams, and teams that make deep playoff runs each and every year, know each other and have been together for a while. I think that’s definitely something you can establish and grow from.’’

From LaVine, expect nothing less than the approach that got him this far — through a torn ACL at age 21, being traded on his rookie contract, and a carousel of coaches, teammates and arid rosters around him.

“It’s a journey, and you’ve got to take everything in stride,” he said. “Obviously you can’t control everything with injuries, being traded, whatever it is. But I could always control my demeanor, my work ethic, and what I brought to the game.

"I always pictured myself as the player that I am and the player I’m going to be, continue to strive to be, and what comes with that is being compensated at that level. I’m very proud of myself and my family in getting to this point."

And he's not finished.

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