Denzel Valentine signs qualifying offer with Bulls

Bulls wing Denzel Valentine signed his qualifying offer from the team, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

As a result of the decision, Valentine will be under contract for the 2020-21 season on a one-year, $4.64M deal. He’ll have a de facto no-trade clause for the season and will become an unrestricted free agent in 2021 once the contract expires.

The Bulls’ decision to extend a qualifying offer to Valentine was somewhat surprising. After a promising 2017-18, he has only appeared in 36 games over the last two years due to injuries. He averaged 6.8 PPG and 2.1 RPG on .409/.336/.750 in 13.6 minutes per contest for Chicago last season.

New president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas reportedly values Valentine’s shooting ability, which played a big part in the Bulls’ decision to make him a restricted free agent. The 27-year-old knocked down 38.6% of his three-point attempts in his last full season in ’17-18.