NBA Castaway: Zach LaVine
“I’m not a contractual obligation, I’m a human being”
Zach LaVine is both thriving and adrift. He is having an excellent season, averaging 24.0 points per game on excellent efficiency, but remains marooned on a rebuilding team. He ought to be a highly sought after commodity, with contenders casting a lifeline to a player who has nearly averaged 25 points per game over the past seven seasons on a true shooting (TS%) of 60%. But, alas, Zach LaVine continues to bob in the waves of Lake Michigan with only his trusty leather-clad Wilson by his side.
The problem LaVine faces is not unique, nor is it altogether sad. There are plenty of players stranded on rebuilding-team-island simply because they make too much money. As a late great American philosopher once put it, “Mo money, mo problems.” And while I don’t think Biggie Smalls was prophesizing the modern NBA trade landscape, we shouldn’t rule it out altogether.
The most coveted trait a player can possess is the ability to score. Basketball, as Bill Russell so eloquently put it in an Uncle Drew commercial, “Has, and always will, be about buckets,” and Zach LaVine is a bucket. His season average of 24.0 points per game on 63.9% TS% puts him in rarified air. Only 18 qualified players this season are even averaging 20 points per game on a TS% of 60%, and when you bump the sliders up to 24 points and a TS% of 63%, you’re left with four players– LaVine, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Nikola Jokic.
Now, there’s nothing I hate more than when people take a player’s stats, throw them into Stathead, and say look at all the amazing players keeping him company. Great, you showed me a list of players, and now, I know who is the worst. But, in LaVine’s case, being the worst out of the two MVP favorites and a surefire All-NBA selection, is a pretty nice consolation.
A big part of LaVine’s impressive blend of volume and efficiency has been his insane 3-point shooting (45%). However, he also has been efficient within the arc (56%), and it’s not as if he’s simply being spoon-fed layups and catch-and-shoot threes. His 3.6 isolation possessions per game rank 12th among players who have played at least 25 games, and his 1.13 points per possession rank tenth and is first among players who isolate more than 0.9 times per game. You could credibly argue that LaVine has been the best isolation player in the league this season because he has basically been Kevin Durant.
*2024-25 seasons, stats via NBA.com
Perhaps the most important development for LaVine has been what happens when he’s actually on the court. For his career, LaVine has been the epitome of an empty-calories scorer who does nothing to affect winning.
I mean, good god. What a monstrosity. It’s like peering into the butthole of the devil. However, if you look down in the right corner, you’ll see a pocket of green. After a decade of generally fulfilling the losing player archetype, LaVine has suddenly transformed into a winner. And who wouldn’t want a winning player who scores with volume and efficiency? Well, as it stands, virtually every team in the NBA.
Zach LaVine is tethered to the Bulls like a medieval plough and remains an unwanted man simply because of his contract. Owed $43.03 million this season, he is due $45.999 million in 2025-26, and then has a $48.967 million player option in 2026-27. He’s the 18th highest-paid player in the league, but he certainly isn’t the 18th-best player.
LaVine, for all of his attributes as a scorer, is not much else. His defense generally hovers in the barely acceptable range, rebounds come to him by accident, and he has a passing interest in passing. He is a one-trick pony, but he’s damn good at that trick. Unfortunately, to be a $45 million man, you need a full show.
This is how one of the best scorers in the league has been on the trade block for over 12 months and there has barely been a peep of genuine interest. LaVine has transcended his physical form and become an ethereal dollar figure. It’s not that no one wants LaVine, it’s that no one wants his inescapable contract. Which is a shame because he is an excellent player and deserves to be on a bigger stage than slap-fighting his way to the play-in.
As Zach LaVine drifts closer to free agency and the rising salary cap eases the relative financial commitment of his contract, he should wash ashore a competitive team’s roster. But that’s unlikely to be this season, and perhaps not even next. LaVine isn’t some martyr. He’s fabulously wealthy and gets to play every night in Chicago, the jewel of the Midwest. But, sadly, his reputation has taken a hit because of the money he’s earned. Remember, Zach LaVine isn’t his contract. He’s a bucket-getter and a damn good one at that.
For any inquiries about work, discussion, and the like you can email me at nevin.l.brown@gmail.com.