Bulls: Javonte Green Shoots Down Rumored LaVine/DeRozan Beef, Keeps Focus on Next Season
A WARR Media exclusive with the exciting, do-it-all Green
With his energetic play and regular jump-out-your-shoes highlights, Chicago Bulls guard/forward Javonte Green played an important part of last season’s breakthrough playoff team.
As a starter for 45 of the Bulls’ 82 games, he helped the franchise get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2017. While the season ended bitterly in a first-round playoff exit after losing to the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks, Green looks forward to this off-season as a distinct chance to improve his game.
WARR Media caught up with the do-it-all Green while courtside attending the Chicago Sky’s home game against the Las Vegas Aces Saturday, showing his support for the WNBA.
“Every time I am here [in Chicago] and [the Sky] have a game, I try to come and show my support,” Green said after Aces handed the Sky a 83-76 loss. “I’m a big fan of the WNBA. I have a lot of friends in the WNBA. I always come and support when I can.”
With his season over, Green is more available to check out WNBA games, but he isn’t losing any focus on the upcoming season he has to prepare for. One of the things he is working on is making life for his teammates better.
“I just want to make the guys' lives easier,” Green said. “Working on my offensive game, just being more aggressive and confident in myself to know what I am capable of doing. Not shying away from being aggressive, not trying to score and make the other guys' jobs easier.”
In the 65 regular-season games Green played last season, he averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds while shooting 54 percent from the field and 35% out of 101 attempts from the 3-point line. In the future, Green wants to improve his scoring ability while taking some offensive pressure off the team’s Big 3.
“There was so much attention on Zach [LaVine], DeMar [DeRozan] and [Nikola] Vucevic,” Green said “I just want to take some of that pressure/relieve some of that pressure off of them so they can play the game that they have been playing for so long, being the top players in the NBA.”
Experiencing an NBA off-season with expectations is still on the newer side of things for Green, with this past season featuring the most games he’s played since entering the league in 2019. Nevertheless, he is focused on improving his game and the team's future success.
“I’m training here in Chicago right now with a couple guys that I know around the city,” Green said. “I’m training with the coaches here as well. They have goals for me next year and I’m just trying to figure that out right now. As I try to perfect the goals that they want me to do, I can work on myself.”
As Green prepares for the ‘22-23 season, Bulls Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas — who recently finished second in NBA Executive of the Year votes — has made it clear that he wants to keep the core together. Green is likely a part of that core, along with the current unrestricted free agent Zach LaVine, who stands to play out his first period as a top-ranked player on the open market.
Nothing has been made public from either LaVine or the Bulls regarding immediate plans, but a recent report by the Chicago Sun-Times Joe Cowley states that the Bulls have every intention to reach a new, max deal with the two-time All-Star.
In the absence of any concrete discusiion, many other rumors and beliefs can emerge, such as those of LaVar Ball, father of Bulls guard Lonzo Ball, who recently stated that he thinks LaVine intends to go to the Lakers because he has a rift with DeMar DeRozan and is upset about his current role on offense.
Green is aware of the rumors, but he’s not paying attention to those things. He is just minding the business that pays him.
“They are rumors,” Green said. “I pay attention to facts, so if it is a rumor I’m not about to believe that without getting both sides of the story. Right now, I’m just working on myself.”
Joshua M. Hicks is a senior writer for WARR Media and host of the “In The Scope” Podcast