Chicago Bulls' Zach LaVine talks free agency, his mindset heading into it

• NBA

The Chicago Bulls have one of the most formidable backcourts in the NBA but that could change if Zach LaVine decides to leave the team in the summer. LaVine is set to be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career and he is heading into it with an open mind.

“Free agency is gonna be a big milestone for me,” LaVine told Yahoo Sports. “It’s my first time going into it really being [an] unrestricted free agent. I dealt with it being restricted before so it’s a whole new experience.

“I’m excited for the season with the Bulls. But you know, moving forward, it’s gonna be a whole new experience for me”.

The Bulls hoping to again sign LaVine

When LaVine was a restricted free agent in 2018, he was offered a four-year, $78 million deal by the Sacramento Kings.

The Bulls matched that offer so there was no need for LaVine to leave the city. “I think we all get what we deserve at the level we play at, for our team and around the league. I think I stack up with everybody at that level,” LaVine said.

“We’ll let the chips fall. Is the [max] the goal? I don’t know if it’s the goal, but I should be getting what I deserve. “I’ll let [NBA general managers] tell me what that is and we’ll go from there”.

LaVine and DeMar DeRozan play extremely well alongside each other and the Bulls own a 38-21 record. DeRozan is the first player in NBA history with seven consecutive games with 35 points or more on a 50 percent shooting from the field.

"Just to be in the record books along with staples of basketball history -- [I'm] speechless," DeRozan said. "As a kid, as a fan of the history of the game, being in the league as long as I've been in the league, things like that continue to make me even more humble.

"It's something I'll never take for granted. And the crazy thing is, I feel like I missed eight easy shots I normally would have made. I felt like I had a bad shooting night, honestly." Asked to describe his current scoring run and how locked in he feels, DeRozan replied: "I can't." "I'll be honest with you, I can't.

I can't describe it," he said. "It's one of those things where I'm completely locked in as soon as I come to work. Understanding, I want to be able to leave work with a win by any means necessary."