Zach LaVine says he’s coming back to the Chicago Bulls

It was announced Friday that the Bulls and two-time All-Star and Olympic gold winner has signed a new contract. According to a person with direct knowledge of the terms who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the contract cannot be signed until next week under league law, LaVine will sign a five-year max contract for nearly $215 million.

As a result, the Bulls were able to put an end to their biggest personnel uncertainty of the offseason.

The deal between the Bulls and LaVine was originally reported by The Athletic.

Arturas Karnisovas, the executive vice president of basketball operations for the Chicago Bulls, has often stated that the organization would like to re-sign LaVine rather than lose him as an unrestricted free agency. That core had helped Chicago to the playoffs in their first appearance in five years.

After five years in Chicago, LaVine announced his intention to test the free agency market for the first time in his career. LaVine made his choice roughly 18 hours after the league’s free-agent bargaining window opened for this season, so he didn’t search around for very long.