Denzel Valentine’s Bulls career seemed to be finished after a disappointing 2019-20 season in which he found himself in Jim Boylen’s doghouse. He had appeared in just 170 games in four seasons to start his career, with the 2018-19 a total loss thanks to ankle surgery. That was the third lower-body surgery of Valentine’s Bulls tenure.
Valentine showed flashes of his intriguing skill set when he played 77 games in 2017-18, averaging 10.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists while shooting 38.6% on 3-pointers. But taking everything else into account, I was still surprised when the Bulls extended the 27-year-old (yes, he’s 27!