Bulls star Jimmy Butler has new representation, according to a report from the Chicago Tribune’s K.C. Johnson.
Butler played this season without an agent after leaving Happy Walters of Catalyst Sports last summer. His new Toronto-based agent, Bernie Lee, filed paperwork with the National Basketball Players Association to make the new partnership official. Jimmy informed the Bulls management of this change in representation at their exit meeting last week.
Lee’s company (Lee Basketball Services LTD) also represents former Bulls players Mike James and John Lucas III. Lucas played for former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau in Minnesota this season but was waived in January. James will play in Ice Cube’s Big3 tournament this summer. Most of Lee’s other clients are either young unknowns or international players, and Butler will become the biggest name on his client list by far.
Jimmy is still under contract with Chicago for two more seasons before he can exercise a player option in the summer of 2019. If he earns another selection to an All-NBA team in one of the next two seasons, he will qualify for the new designated player exception. That DPE, part of the most recent collective bargaining agreement, would allow Jimmy to sign a five-year max deal with the Bulls worth up to $247 million. Any free agent contract signing with another team could only be for four years and wouldn’t come close to matching that DPE scale.
Assuming the Bulls hear no viable trade offers and keep Butler, he and his new agent Lee will have a big decision to make in two years. The rising star recently appeared on Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show and declared he wants to stay in Chicago. But that sentiment could easily change if the Bulls remain stuck in the middle for two more seasons. If Butler sees no realistic chances of contending for a title by sticking around, he and Lee will take meetings with several interested teams in two short years.
For Butler’s sake, let’s hope Lee is an excellent negotiator. A once-unheralded defensive role player turned himself into a perennial All Star, and he deserves to be paid like one.