Bulls offer Jimmy Butler maximum qualifying offer — report

The Bulls have offered guard Jimmy Butler a qualifying offer and a maximum qualifying offer, according to the LA Times’ Eric Pincus.

The maximum qualifying offer guarantees Butler five years at the maximum salary with a 7.5 percent raise annually.

The league’s salary cap is expected to jump considerably in 2016 because of its TV deal with ABC/ESPN, as reported earlier Monday in the LA Daily News. If Butler accepts the maximum offer from the Bulls now, he misses the chance for an even bigger contract when he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2016.

In order to pursue free agency, Butler could choose to take the qualifying offer at a salary of roughly $4.4 million.

The other option Butler has is to sign an offer sheet from another team, which must be at least three years without options, according to the LA Times.

As reported earlier, Butler wants to play elsewhere in 2015, but that report came before news of the Bulls’ offers.