With all the hype around Jimmy Butler’s max contract extension this summer, not many people realized that Bulls now have the highest paying backcourt in the NBA. Both Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose signed a maximum deal worth $94 million over five years each.
Butler and Rose are expected to make a combined $36.5 million which trumps the previous highest paid backcourt which was Dwyane Wade and Goran Dragic at $34 million combined. For the record, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are only combined to make $26.5 million, which is unreasonably low considering they took the league by storm by winning the championship last year.
With big money comes big responsibility, that goes for both Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose. Both guys need to step up big time since they’re being paid big time. The Bulls have a chance of having the best backcourt in the NBA given both players remain healthy, surely Gar Forman thinks so since he’s paying them like they’re the best.
Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler averaged a combined 37.7 points per game last season, which isn’t really eye popping numbers. What the Bulls backcourt lack in scoring, they make up in their all around game. Derrick Rose is considered to be one of the better defenders in the league while Jimmy Butler surely is a top notch elite defender. Both guards have the ability to rebound the ball and create for others.
It’s a tough task to claim the best backcourt in the league title over Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, but the Bulls backcourt has the potential of claiming that crown if Butler and Rose can mesh well together.
