The Chicago Bulls narrowly escaped paying the NBA luxury tax despite a $500,000 bonus for Joakim Noah making the All-NBA First Team. The Bulls were just $291,165 away from the threshold.

The Bulls saved money when the Utah Jazz claimed Erik Murphy off waivers.

The Bulls also saved approximately $300,000 when they traded Marquis Teague to the Brooklyn Nets.

After paying the luxury tax for the first time last season, the Bulls traded away Luol Deng in a cost-cutting move along with these other transactions.

The Bulls will receive a luxury tax payment and also avoid a season counting toward the repeater tax.

John Paxson pledged at the time of the Deng trade that the luxury tax savings would be reinvested into personnel.