Zach Lavine has the Chicago Bulls humming along excellently this year, and his play could land him in an exclusive club along with legends like Larry Bird.
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The Bull’s remarkable season can be credited to their great offseason in which they landed DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, and Alex Caruso, completely shifting their identity and drastically changing the culture in Chicago.
A franchise that hasn’t seen much winning since the Derrick Rose days finally has something to root about, and it all started with landing Zach Lavine in the Jimmy Butler trade. He’s been the star Chicago has slowly been building around, and now, he may join some exclusive company.
RT to see this in the #NBAAllStar game!@NBCSChicago | @ZachLaVine pic.twitter.com/JPXd6xHT1A
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) December 30, 2021
Zach Lavine can match NBA legends like Larry Bird after this year
Lavine’s growth as a player has been incredible to see for Bulls fans. Once known purely for his athletic ability and his crazy dunks, Lavine is now so much more than that. He’s an incredible threat in the paint, driving and slashing with finesse, and his shooting is something that you can’t take for granted.
Last season, Lavine averaged 27.4 points on 50.7% field goal percentage, 41.9% from three, and 84.9% from the free throw line. This year he’s averaging almost the same numbers while playing alongside DeRozan. His splits are 26.3, on 50.2%, 41.6%, and 84.1%.
While it’s not the 50-40-90 club, 50-40-80 is still elite and speaks to how efficient Lavine has been as a scorer. If Lavine keeps up this pace, he’ll have averaged 50-40-80 in back to back seasons, becoming only the 11th player ever to do that.
Larry Bird was the only player to achieve this mark while shooting at the same volume Lavine has been. Chicago is currently 2nd in the Eastern Conference, and they’re riding Lavine and DeRozan’s incredible play. Expectations are high for this Bulls team, and so far, they’ve seemed up to the task.
