Bulls Rumors: Patrick Williams Eyeing 'Big Numbers' on Contract Extension

Chicago Bulls forward Patrick Williams, who is entering the final year of a first-round rookie scale deal, reportedly seeks a massive extension of perhaps at least $20 million per season.

"I'm hearing Patrick Williams wants big, big numbers," ESPN's Zach Lowe said on the latest edition of the Lowe Post podcast (31:27 mark). "Like it starts with a 2, and is it 2-0 kind of stuff, potentially?

Lowe made the remarks amid a conversation with ESPN's Bobby Marks about rookie-scale contract extensions.

As Marks noted, Monday marks "the deadline for players on the final year of a first-round rookie scale contract as well as extension-eligible veterans with two years left on their deal."

The 22-year-old Williams, who went fourth overall in the 2020 NBA draft, falls in the former category.

The former Florida State star, who is about to enter his fourth NBA season, just averaged 10.2 points on 46.4 percent shooting (41.5 percent from three-point range) and 4.0 rebounds per game. He played all 82 contests for the Bulls, starting 65.

Lowe mentioned that he believes the recent rookie-extension deal for San Antonio Spurs guard Devin Vassell "was kind of a grenade to these negotiations" for Williams.

Vassell, who played with Williams at Florida State and went 11th overall in the 2020 draft, inked a five-year, $146 million contract in early October.

He played just 38 games largely due to an arthroscopic procedure performed on his left knee last January that kept him out of action for two months. However, Vassell shined on the court with 18.5 points on 43.9 percent shooting, 3.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.

Williams was certainly an efficient scorer when called upon, but the issue preventing him from getting a monster extension is that he simply doesn't have the level of production like others in his class, such as Vassell.

On the flip side, that isn't necessarily his fault considering that he's on a team led by three usage monsters in DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vučević. Williams simply doesn't get the opportunities to break out a la Vassell, so a massive contract extension could largely be based on his potential.

Williams certainly has enough of that, and there's plenty of room and time for him to grow and develop at the age of 22 (23 next August).

We'll see if Williams and the Bulls get a deal done before Monday, but regardless of whether that happens, Chicago will look to kick off the 2023-24 season on the right foot on Wednesday at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder.