Gordon Accepts Bulls Exension Offer; Bulls Decline

October 31st, 2008 by Andrew Wamboldt

Sam Smith wrote in his mailbag today that Ben Gordon ended up agreeing to the Bulls contract terms, but the Bulls ended up pulling the offer. Here is what Smith wrote:

The talk around the NBA is the Bulls gave Ben a deadline and said either sign—which I thought was a maybe too generous offer, like with Deng—or forget it. Ben’s agent came back the next day and said forget it. The Bulls did. Then Ben apparently changed his mind, but an agent told me the offer was off the table and that was it, sending Ben into a funk.

This is a big problem. The guy agreed to the contract offer that the Bulls desired him on and yet, he isn’t signed long term. If Gordon was willing to sign for that contract, then Jerry Reinsdorf acted foolishly.

This sends the message to players that the Bulls will get their way in all negotiations. Gordon played the negotiations perfectly, and how any rational person would have played it. The Bulls’ offer was on the low end of fair, Gordon had no incentive to sign before the deadline because of how low the deal was.

When Gordon insinuated that he might take the Bulls offer on media day, he was being sincere. There was no reason for the Bulls to set an early deadline. When Gordon came back to the Bulls saying he would accept their offer, there is no logical reason why he did not walk out of that room as a long term member of the Chicago Bulls. It’s not like the Bulls made any big financial changes to the team between Gordon saying, “no” and changing his mind.

Very disappointing news, and continuing proof that Bulls fans should be upset with Jerry Reinsdorf and how he is running the team.