Coby White is getting closer to setting the Chicago Bulls franchise record
Last night, former Tar Heel and current Chicago Bulls guard Coby White caught fire against the Los Angeles Lakers with 23 points, five rebounds and six assists. While this is more common than not for the Goldsboro native, the significance of this is the fact that he made five of his 10 three-point attempts, which was good enough to surpass Kirk Hinrich in the race to hit the most three-pointers in Chicago Bulls history.
Now that White holds second place in franchise history, the only player standing in his way is current Sacramento Kings guard Zach LaVine, who left the Bulls after draining 1,130. White is now less than 100 threes away from breaking the record, and while it seems inevitable that he will break it, there’s one problem: the NBA trade deadline.
Announcement
The NBA trade deadline is February 5th at 3pm ET, and there has been a lot of noise about whether White could be traded as he has an expiring contract. If the Bulls keep him until the end of the season, he would become an unrestricted free agent, meaning he could still decide to take his talents to another team once the season is over. It’s an odd situation because whichever team takes him would need to acquire him with the intent of signing him to his inevitably larger contract after the season, but under no circumstances would that team be required to do so. The Bulls are in a strange situation because White has more or less become their franchise player at this point, but he’s not even an All-Star caliber player right now. So what is worth more? Lose one of your best scorers only to risk having a less productive player, or hold out only for White to throw him the peace sign this summer? It’s a very complicated situation that Bulls vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas has found himself in, but even for anyone who pays enough attention to this franchise… it’s nothing short of surprising.
Regardless, it’s been a lot of fun to watch White grow as a player and become one of the best scorers in the NBA. Enduring the dysfunction that is the Chicago Bulls front office – and at one point coaching staff – and managing to become such a good player is something other Bulls recruits have failed to accomplish in the post-Jimmy Butler/Derrick Rose era. Regardless of whether or not he surpasses LaVine’s record, his contributions to Chicago will not soon be forgotten.