Jabari Parker got his wish — he is going to be a Chicago Bull next season.
Saturday morning the Bucks rescinded their qualifying offer, making the former No. 2 pick and Chicago native an unrestricted free agent.
Parker quickly reached a two-year, $40 million deal with the Bulls that eats up their cap space for the summer, something broken by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
"Jabari and I felt it was in the best interest of both he and the team to rescind our qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent." - GM Jon Horst pic.twitter.com/qdM2VtdT3k
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) July 14, 2018
Free agent forward Jabari Parker has agreed to a two-year, $40M deal with the Chicago Bulls, league sources tell ESPN. Milwaukee rescinded Parker's qualifying offer moments ago, making him unrestricted.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 14, 2018
The second-year of Parker deal is a team option, which lowers risk for Bulls because of Parker's two ACL surgeries and gives Bartelstein and Parker a chance to negotiate a long-term deal with Bulls should he stay healthy and productive next season.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 14, 2018
That is an overpay for Parker. Even so, the box lost a former No. 2 pick for no compensation. They did not want to trade him and now lost him for nothing.
A couple of seasons ago he was a 20-point a game scorer, but since then Parker has had a second ACL surgery, plus he was never much of a defender. This is a tight free agent market, they could have paid less and used some of that money for a free agent rotation player (although the market is slim).
The Bulls now have more than $38 million invested next season in players coming off major injuries, the other being Zach LaVine (the Bulls matched the offer sheet the Kings had for him).
The Bulls want to play Parker at the three (he spent 40 percent of his time at the three last season in Milwaukee), pared up front with Lauri Markkanen, Robin Lopez, and Wendell Carter Jr. The starting backcourt is Kris Dunn and LaVine. How well this group can fit in a selfless, move-the-ball Fred Hoiberg offense remains to be seen. Parker can play a small forward slot on offense, he’s good on the catch-and-shoot (better than a point per possession), can get out and score in transition, and is a better pick-and-roll ball handler than people realize. his minutes should be better than those of Paul Zipser or Denzel Valentine.
But Parker is going to get torched defensively by opposing threes.
If everything comes together for the Bulls next season, they should be interesting, but they have made a lot of big bets on players with question marks. It’s going to be an up-and-down season in the windy city.