Bulls center Tony Bradley exercising $2M player option for 2022-23 season

Bulls center Tony Bradley is exercising his $2M player option for next season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Bradley’s decision has some cap implications, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks explains. Chicago now has 11 players on guaranteed contracts totaling $103M.

However, Zach LaVine‘s $29.25M cap hold moves the Bulls over the salary-cap threshold. Assuming LaVine re-signs on a maximum-salary deal, the Bulls would have the full $10.5M mid-level exception available, but using all of it would likely push them into luxury-tax territory.

Bradley’s exact opt-in salary is $2,036,318, less than the projected minimum of $2,104,726 he could receive if he declines the option and signs a new deal. That suggests Bradley wasn’t confident about receiving another guaranteed contract in free agency.

Bradley, who entered the league during the 2017-18 season, appeared in 55 regular-season games last season, including seven starts. He averaged 3.0 points and 3.4 rebounds in 10.0 minutes per contest.