Jimmy Butler's value to the Chicago Bulls cannot be overstated. With the injury bug biting Chicago early in the season - plaguing majority of its key players including Derrick Rose, Taj Gibson, Paul Gasol, Joakim Noah and Kirk Hinrich - Butler has been the one carrying the team in every victory.
Per Scott Polacek of Bleacher Report on Butler putting the Bulls on his back with its injury problems:
Despite the injuries, Chicago is still 10-6 on the season, largely because Butler is thriving in his increased role on both ends. He leads the team in scoring at 21.6 points a night and guards the opponent's best wing player every single night. Most impressively, he is averaging 39.4 minutes a game and is the iron man on that roster.
In the Bulls 102-84 dismantling of the Brooklyn Nets Sunday night, Butler did it all on offense and defense. He scored 26 points, attempting double-digit free throws for the third straight game and seventh time overall and left Joe Johnson on a rough 3 point, 1-for-7 shooting night with his suffocating defense.
Its pretty clear that Jimmy Butler is evolving into an All-Star but unfortunately for Chicago, his transformation will come with a price. All-Star caliber players get paid with All-Star money and Butler made it known to the Bulls front office that he wants to get paid for his hard work and talent when he rejected the Bulls not so impressive contract extension offer, per Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times:
According to a source, Butler turned down a four-year, $40 million-plus offer from the Bulls. After watching Klay Thompson get the max four-year, $70 million contract from the Warriors, Butler was willing to test the market as a restricted free agent and force the Bulls to make the tough decision.
While the Bulls have certainly found relief in Butler's individual success especially with Rose and majority of the starting unit struggling from injuries early in the season, its certainly not comforting for them to know that his future contract price will only get steeper with every stellar performance. He is still only 25 years old and should be able to demand a huge chunk of change as a free agent.
Maybe it was best for Chicago to offer him more money when it had the chance.
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