Zach LaVine has been a dynamic and electrifying scorer that can give you a 40 piece on any given night. LaVine can leverage his amazing vertical to attack the basket or step back and hit a three.
Zach LaVine was drafted in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the 13th overall pick. Coming out of UCLA, Zach entered the league with high expectations due to his explosive athleticism and scoring potential. While he won consecutive NBA Slam Dunk championships and increased his scoring every year he was in Minnesota, LaVine truly didn’t thrive and become an all-star until he and Lauri Markkanen were traded to the Chicago Bulls for Jimmy Butler.
Zach LaVine Becomes All-Star in Chicago
With the Bulls, LaVine no longer had to share the ball with Karl Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. The Chicago franchise handed the keys to LaVine who would become an NBA All-Star in 2021 and 2022 when he averaged 27.4 points and 24.4 points. Needless to say LaVine’s visibility and stock were at their highest these last few seasons.
| YEAR | TEAM | GAMES | POINTS | REBS | ASTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15 | MIN | 77 | 10.1 | 2.8 | 3.6 |
| 2015-16 | MIN | 82 | 14 | 2.8 | 3.1 |
| 2016-17 | MIN | 47 | 18.9 | 3.4 | 3 |
| 2017-18 | CHI | 24 | 16.7 | 3.9 | 3 |
| 2018-19 | CHI | 63 | 23.7 | 4.7 | 4.5 |
| 2019-20 | CHI | 60 | 25.5 | 4.8 | 4.2 |
| 2020-21 | CHI | 58 | 27.4 | 5 | 4.9 |
| 2021-22 | CHI | 67 | 24.4 | 4.6 | 4.5 |
| 2022-23 | CHI | 77 | 24.8 | 4.5 | 4.2 |
| 2023-24 | CHI | 15 | 21.3 | 5.1 | 3.3 |
| Career | 570 | 20.5 | 4.0 | 3.9 |
Why Teams Shouldn’t Trade for Zach LaVine
It can be intoxicating to watch Zach LaVine, he certainly is a talented scorer who can both shoot the ball and soar to the basket, but many NBA experts that have been paying attention are coming to the realization that maybe a lot of his LaVine’s numbers are empty when it comes to contributions to winning. While LaVine no doubt can get you 30 or 40 points, it didn’t always correlate with a higher winning percentage. In LaVine’s highest scoring games in his career, the Chicago Bulls won only half of those games including his recent 51 point explosion against the Detroit Pistons.
| PLAYER | POINTS | W/L | OPPONENT | DATE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zach LaVine | 51 | L | DET | 10/28/2023 |
| Zach LaVine | 50 | L | ATL | 4/9/2021 |
| Zach LaVine | 49 | W | CHA | 11/23/2019 |
| Zach LaVine | 47 | W | ATL | 3/1/2019 |
| Zach LaVine | 46 | W | NOP | 2/10/2021 |
| Zach LaVine | 45 | L | LAC | 1/10/2021 |
| Zach LaVine | 44 | W | CLE | 1/25/2020 |
| Zach LaVine | 43 | W | DET | 12/30/2022 |
| Zach LaVine | 43 | L | IND | 1/10/2020 |
| Zach LaVine | 42 | L | IND | 3/5/2023 |
So based on this sample size of his best scoring games, even with LaVine going off and having an excellent game, the Bull’s chances of winning are 50/50. That’s not going to help you at the local sportsbook and automaty online if you’re looking to wager on the Bulls chances. But there’s another stat that we think prospective teams should really look at if they’re considering trading for Zach LaVine.
Zach LaVine Has One of the Worst Plus/Minus in NBA History
While plus/minus isn’t the end all stat, it does give teams directional data as to how much a player contributes to winning and the larger the sample size, the more accurate is in helping to identify players that have positive effect when on they’re on the court. Plus/minus is literally how many points your team scores vs. how many the opponent teams scores when you’re on the floor. In this advanced NBA metric, Zach LaVine has 11th worst cumulative plus/minus in NBA history.
| # | NAME | GP | PLUS/MINUS | Per Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shareef Abdur-Rahim | 830 | -2904 | -3.50 |
| 2 | Ricky Davis | 736 | -2347 | -3.19 |
| 3 | Bismack Biyombo | 808 | -2075 | -2.57 |
| 4 | Jarrett Jack | 867 | -2033 | -2.34 |
| 5 | Eddy Curry | 527 | -1894 | -3.59 |
| 6 | Al Jefferson | 915 | -1806 | -1.97 |
| 7 | Juwan Howard | 1062 | -1769 | -1.67 |
| 8 | Ramon Sessions | 691 | -1742 | -2.52 |
| 9 | Hakim Warrick | 526 | -1719 | -3.27 |
| 10 | Jeff Green | 1120 | -1716 | -1.53 |
| 11 | Zach LaVine | 570 | -1707 | -2.99 |
| 12 | Brandon Knight | 451 | -1704 | -3.78 |
| 13 | Spencer Hawes | 684 | -1685 | -2.46 |
| 14 | Damien Wilkins | 582 | -1653 | -2.84 |
| 15 | Trenton Hassell | 644 | -1626 | -2.52 |
| 16 | Ryan Gomes | 487 | -1558 | -3.20 |
| 17 | Luke Ridnour | 830 | -1551 | -1.87 |
| 18 | Corey Maggette | 827 | -1542 | -1.86 |
| 19 | Collin Sexton | 281 | -1539 | -5.48 |
| 20 | John Salmons | 895 | -1530 | -1.71 |
And this list includes both active and retired players. Removing retired players, LaVine has the 3rd worst plus/minus total among all active players according to StatMuse. As you can see, across 570 career games, Lavine is a negative 1707 points for the minutes he’s been on the floor. On average, even with a scoring average of over 20 points over his career, Zach LaVine career plus/minus is -3 points per game. He’s one of three NBA All-Stars to be on this infamous list.
While LaVine has consistently delivered individually, his teams have faced challenges in terms of overall success. Plus/minus is just one way to look at it; with nearly 600 career games, teams looking to trade for Zach LaVine shouldn’t overlook this stat especially if they’re looking to win games.
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