Lonzo Ball Headed to Chicago Bulls

It took just one minute into the official signing period, and restricted free agent Lonzo Ball has agreed to a 4-year $85 million dollar deal with the Chicago Bulls via a sign-and-trade with the New Orleans Pelicans.

New Orleans Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball is landing on a four-year, $85 million contract with Chicago Bulls in a sign-and-trade agreement, his agent and @KlutchSports CEO Rich Paul tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 2, 2021

Word had been swirling for a couple of weeks that the Pelicans were not going to bring the point guard back, and the Bulls had great interest in pairing him with Zach LaVine in the backcourt.

In return, Chicago send Tomas Satoransky, Garrett Temple, 2nd-round pick to New Orleans. The Bulls did not have room under the salary cap to outright sign Ball to a deal of this size, so a trade with the Pels had to be worked out.

Ball vastly improved his shooting this past season, hitting on nearly 38% of his threes, and in fact, made more long-distance shots than a number of high-profile players around the league, including the likes of Trae Young, Paul George and Bradley Beal.

Lonzo Ball last season made more threes than:

Trae Young
Paul George
Bradley Beal
Khris Middleton
Devin Booker
Seth Curry
LeBron James

He averaged 14.6 PPG on 41/38/78%, all career-highs. pic.twitter.com/B2NGGI27eN
— StatMuse (@statmuse) August 2, 2021