It was always going to be difficult for a player like Zach LaVine to receive any attention at the start of free agency when he has to compete against the likes of LeBron James and Paul George.

However, now LeBron has agreed to join the Los Angeles Lakers and George is staying put with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Chicago Bulls can now receive the attention he deserves.

Following a quiet start to free agency, LaVine has reportedly found a team interested in securing his services long-term.

According to Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports, via NBA.com, the guard has signed an offer sheet to a four-year contract with the Sacramento Kings worth $78 million.

Due to the fact that LaVine is a restricted free agent, the Bulls now have 48 hours to match the offer made by the Kings, otherwise, they'll lose him. If reports are to be believed, the Bulls are acting quickly on this.

Bulls respond

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Chicago is expected to do exactly that after making LaVine part of the return for trading Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves last summer.

According to ESPN's Marc Spears, the Bulls did reportedly make an initial offer to the 23-year-old, but it was not nearly as strong as the Kings. Now though it looks like they aren't messing around.

LaVine can be a good player for either the Bulls or the Kings next season, but he must have better defenders around him in order to compensate for his poor advanced stats.

After he returned from ACL surgery last season, he averaged 16.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and three assists per game while shooting 38.3 percent in 24 games.

Reports have stated that the Atlanta Hawks might be interested in acquiring LaVine's services this offseason too, so it will be interesting to see if they join the party now that the offers are flying in for the guard.

It seems as though the Bulls allowed LaVine to test the market in order to see what his value is, and now they know what his cost will be, they're happy to pay for it.

The question now will be will he be worth $19.5 million a year for whichever team's offer sheet he ends up signing.

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