Big Changes Bulls Must Make If They Miss NBA Playoffs | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Even when Zach LaVine has been at his best, he has long ranked among the league's most polarizing players. His highlights are magnificent, and his stat lines have been loud enough to garner a pair of All-Star selections, but his production has rarely resulted in team success. To date, the No. 13 pick of the 2014 draft has contributed to only a single playoff appearance.

This season, of course, LaVine was nowhere near his best. When he wasn't battling the injury bug, he was seeing statistical declines in both quantity and quality. The Bulls have been far better without him (4.6 points better per 100 possessions to be precise, per NBA.com), which is never something you want to see from a player of his stature, let alone one with his humongous salary.

All of this is to say the Bulls should be ready to embrace their life after LaVine. And they seemingly are. While they couldn't find the scoring guard a new home at this past trade deadline, they plan to revisit those talks this offseason, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.

The Bulls shouldn't expect much in return given LaVine's sagging stats, escalating pay rate, lengthy injury history and questionable-at-best impact on winning, but cutting ties with him would allow this franchise to start fresh with a core that should eventually be able to enjoy the kind of success the current nucleus never delivered.