Luol Deng and the Chicago Bulls didn’t part ways on the best of terms. But the two-time All-Star and current Cleveland Cavalier will be a free agent at season’s end, and as such, he isn’t ready to rule out a possible return to Chicago.
“I don’t know,” Deng told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Maybe they’ll offer me three years, $30 million. That might be an option to take.”
Deng, of course, is referring to the final offer given to him by Gar Forman, one that he eventually turned down and led to his trade to Cleveland. But being that Chicago is the only place he’d played in his 10-year career before being dealt, he doesn’t seem to be cool to the idea of coming back.
“I can’t say,” Deng said. “There’s no bad blood or anything. For me to sit here and say I’m taking Chicago out of the equation, that’s stupid. I was there for 10 years.”
Of course, a return to the Bulls is highly unlikely. Chicago is clearly in cost-cutting mode, Deng will likely command more than $10 million per season on the open market, and he’ll be far less inclined now to give the Bulls a “hometown discount.”
