Zach LaVine is ready to set his record straight in the NBA.

The goals for this season are clear. After a year trapped on the sideline and frustrated by trade chatter, LaVine is eager to reestablish his reputation as a dominant guard.

“The NBA is a ‘what have you done for me lately?’ league,” he said. “I think some guys get a pass that some other guys don’t. I don’t think I have to reintroduce myself. I think everybody in the NBA knows who I am and what I do. It’s just getting back to who I am.”

As the Chicago Bulls open the preseason schedule tonight in Cleveland, coach Billy Donovan echoed the desire for LaVine to return to a former version of himself. Injuries have cost him the better part of three seasons in his career, and last season a broken right foot nearly eliminated his above-the-rim offense — one of the most effective parts of his game — before he had season-ending surgery in early February.

Donovan felt the injury limited every aspect of LaVine on the court.

“Even when I watched him shoot in practice, he didn’t have the same pop and the same lift and the same explosiveness,” Donovan said.

But Donovan also has seen the type of player LaVine can be when healthy — a two-time All-Star who averaged 24.8 points in 77 games just two seasons ago. The Timberwolves took LaVine with the 13th overall pick in the 2014 draft out of UCLA.

Donovan said LaVine, 29, came back from the offseason in good shape and was “much further advanced” physically than in prior years. With LaVine on track for a healthy return, the Bulls are tasked with a new challenge: fitting him back into a backcourt that became cluttered in the nine months since he last stepped on the court.

The Bulls haven’t nailed down the precise rotations to blend in LaVine alongside fellow guards Coby White, Josh Giddey, Ayo Dosunmu and Lonzo Ball. But LaVine remains the centerpiece of the offense, with the other guards supplementing him in an undersized lineup that will emphasize playing at a higher tempo.

For a pass-first guard like Giddey, feeding LaVine early and often will be the primary focus of building out the offense. And Giddey believes that with his help as a facilitator, LaVine is on track to return to his former stature in the league.

Woj’s replacement

Shams Charania has been hired as ESPN’s senior NBA insider, replacing his mentor, Adrian Wojnarowski.

The 30-year-old Charania announced the move on social media on Monday. Wojnarowski announced on Sept. 18 he was leaving ESPN to become the general manager of St. Bonaventure’s men’s basketball team.

Charania has been at The Athletic since 2018 as well as doing on-air work for Stadium and FanDuel TV.

Prior to that, he was a national NBA insider for Yahoo Sports. Charania and Wojnarowski worked together at Yahoo from 2015-17.