Chicago Bulls point guard Kris Dunn and forward Lauri Markkanen were named to the Rising Stars game. Which Bulls Player Will Be Future All-Star First, Dunn or Markkanen?
Early Wednesday afternoon, Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen were named as players for the 2018 Mountain Dew Kickstart Rising Stars at NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles. Sure to be future NBA All-Stars as well.
With Dunn out and Markkanen the most promising player on the Bulls roster right now, the question becomes which of the two will be an actual NBA All-Star first?
Before recently getting injured, Dunn, the fifth-overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft was averaging 13.7 points per game, 6.4 assists per game, 4.6 rebounds per game and 2.1 steals per game. He ranks third on the Bulls in points and first in assists and steals, Dunn is also third among rookie and sophomore guards this season for assists and fifth in points per game.
Showing even more of that promise, Dunn scored a career-high 32 points on 12-of-17 shooting in a 127-124 win at Dallas during the beginning of the month on January 5th. A game where he also matched a career-high with four 3-pointers made. With several of them coming in the clutch.
Dunn has also shown a knack in his short time with the Bulls for being the teams go to player in crunch time. Something they really missed in this past Monday’s double overtime loss in New Orleans.
Lauri Markkanen is really good player
Bulls rookie Lauri Markkanen is averaging 15.4 points, and 7.6 rebounds per game. That’s good for second and first respectively on the team. Those numbers are also fourth and second among rookies.
What’s been most impressive so far for the 20-year-old rookie is the amount of threes he has hit and records he has already broken. He has made multiple three pointers in 33 games this season. Markkanen also has two streaks of 10 or more games with multiple 3-pointers made, which ties for the longest such streak by a rookie in NBA history.
The rookie has now made 104 three-pointers through his first 45 games. While Markkanen maybe known more so for his three-point range as a 7-footer, he’s also a really great finisher at the rim as well.
As you can see from this slam in the Bulls tough double OT loss in New Orleans this past Monday night to the Pelicans and why a nickname of his is “The Finnisher.”
The Flying Finn goes baseline for the two-handed slam pic.twitter.com/zaD2FFR5HH
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) January 23, 2018
Looking at the number and intangibles, you don’t see in the box score, such as who’s All-Star players from the Eastern Conference this year.
I personally think that Markkanen has the best shot between him and Dunn of making an All-Star team first. With him having a shot at possibly taking one of this year’s first time All-Star player spots from the East, if the Bulls record isn’t so bad next year.
If not, I expect one or both, barring any injury setbacks to be All-Stars when the All-Star Game comes back here to Chicago in a couple of years.
How sweet would that be if both became first time All-Stars in their home of the United Center in 2020.