The Chicago Bulls acquired guard Zach LaVine from Minnesota as part of the 2017 draft night Jimmy Butler deal.
The bouncy former UCLA guard and two-time Dunk Contest champion spent the first half of this season recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in Feb. 2017. He's played in 23 games and had a decent campaign: he's putting up 16.6 points, 3.0 assists, and a career-best 3.9 rebounds per game while shooting 34.5 percent from three-point range.
LaVine has been neither great nor terrible, but he just turned 23 last week and still has plenty of room to mature as a player.
ESPN recently released a "25 under 25" list that ranked the league's best young talent by potential. The list came from three of ESPN's finest—Kevin Pelton, Bobby Marks, and Chris Herring—and it featured the usual suspects: Greek Freak (Giannis Antetokounmpo), Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, etc.
LaVine's name, however, did not appear on the list. LaVine was asked how he felt about the snub.
"You guys [the media] don't think I'm better…top 25 players under 25? If I'm not in the Top 25 of that, then I obviously haven't done what I’m supposed to be doing out here," LaVine said, according to Vincent Goodwill of NBC Sports Chicago. "I don't worry about that. I know I'm a lot better than what they think. Random people talking."
LaVine added: "I don't give a damn, man. I motivate myself. I go out there and play for my team and family. I couldn't care what they think. There's a lot of people that know what I do."
LaVine is one of the Bulls' best offensive weapons, but that's not saying much. The Bulls are 23-44.
For what it's worth, LaVine earned a spot on our Jan. 2017 list of the 14 best players under 24.
