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Chicago Bulls point guard Nate Robinson's $1.15 million contract for the season became fully guaranteed on Tuesday, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune reports. The Bulls could've avoided paying a portion of the salary by waiving Robinson, but the Jan. 1 deadline has now passed, officially making Robinson a Bull for the remainder of the season.
Brought on board to give the Bulls some scoring ability and ball handling skill, Robinson has proven to be a solid contributor despite his shaky defensive work. Playing about 21 minutes a night off the bench, he's putting up per game averages of 11 points and 3.6 assists for Chicago.
Despite that solid play, there was some possibility that the Bulls would waive Robinson in order to avoid paying a significant portion of his contract. That would've forced rookie point guard Marquis Teague into a significantly expanded role during Derrick Rose's absence, something that many were understandably uncomfortable with.