Last updated: 9/30/2019
Last updated: 9/30/2019
Last updated: 9/30/2019
2025 Free Agents - Chris Duarte
After getting selected 13th by the Pacers in the 2021 NBA Draft, Duarte made an immediate impact as a rookie, playing over 1,500 minutes of non-garbage time, according to Cleaning the Glass, and even starting a good chunk of games. However, his role diminished in his second season, and he was traded to Sacramento in 2023, where he played even fewer minutes in '23-'24 and was not in the regular rotation. He was then traded to Chicago in the summer of 2024 as part of the DeMar Derozan deal. Duarte has shown flashes of a 3-and-D wing with a little bit of on-ball juice. He shot 38% from 3 as a rookie, but that declined to 31% in '22-'23 and 36% in '23-'24. During his rookie year in Indiana, h had good checmistry with Domantas Sabonis in hand-off situations or finding Sabonis as the roll-man coming off pindowns or other side-screen actions. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to replicate that success when they reunited in Sacramento. The 2-point percentages are concerning though, as Duarte as only hit 46% of his attempts from inside the arc. He has decent size for a wing at 6'7" but not a ton of explosiveness athletically, and has struggled to finish at the rim at a decent rate. The non-paint twos haven't been much better either, despite Duarte showing some solid midrange ability in college. Defensively, Duarte is solid, but not great enough to be a huge difference-maker. He has active hands and gets steals at a good rate. He moves his feet well and makes, reads the offense, and makes the right rotations. Duarte will already be 28 years old as a free agent in 2025, as he was an older prospect coming out of college. His career has not been on a great trajector in recent years, but it will be interesting to see if he can re-establish himself with the Bulls in '24-'25.
Summary
Duarte will be a restricted free agent with a $17.7 million cap hold, $8 million Qualifying Offer, and full Bird Rights. I wouldn't expect the Bulls to even give him a QO since it is likely well above his market starting salary, which would make him an unrestricted free agent. Depending on how close the Bulls are to the luxury tax after free agency, or how much cap space they need after re-signing him, if Duarte is brought back by the Bulls on a multi-year contract they could benefit from frontloading his contract, as it could give them additional flexibility in the future. Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Duarte as even teams without cap space could use the Non-Taxpayer MLE or Room MLE to sign him to an offer sheet or outright as an unrestricted free agent (it's unlikely that the Taxpayer MLE or B-Annual Exception would be enough since they are below his QO amount). However, Duarte being a restricted free agent would lower his interest among teams, as they will worry that the only way to pry him away from Chicago would be to overpay him. It's also likely that Duarte is an unrestricted free agent with pretty low offers, including maybe just getting minimum offers.
Cap Considerations
Garrison Mathews (4 year minimum, partially-guaranteed 2021) Payton Pritchard (4 years, $30 million, 2023) Damion Lee (1 year minimum, 2024)