Call Rajon Rondo the easy winner of the Bulls news conference Wednesday.

Not only did John Paxson say “there's a really good chance” the Bulls pick up the $13.4 million option on his contract, the executive vice president even praised the veteran guard for calling out Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler with a January Instagram post that drew national headlines.

“To be candid with you … when he stood up for our young guys, that empowered them a little bit,” Paxson said. “It might be small, but there was some growth with our young guys. Because they felt they had a voice as a young player, and for us that was important.”

Rondo experienced a wild first season in Chicago. He was benched for five games around the New Year, returned as a reserve leading mostly young players and reclaimed his starting spot and lead the Bulls to a playoff berth.

By the time he fractured his right thumb after helping establish a 2-0 lead over the Celtics in the playoffs, knocking him out for the rest of the series, he had become indispensable.

“To a man, our young people loved Rajon,” Paxson said. “He was great off the court with these guys. He took them under his wing in a lot of ways, and he was responsible for a lot of the good things that came from them.”

Rotation roulette: Both Paxson and Forman expressed desire to re-sign Nikola Mirotic, a restricted free agent. Mirotic has said he wants to return.

“We value Niko,” Forman said. “Analytically, it showed when Niko was on the floor with certain lineups and when Niko was on the floor with Jimmy (Butler), we were much more effective.”