Chicago Bulls: 3 reasons to trade Lauri Markkanen this offseason
Facing the reality that the Chicago Bulls need to make pretty significant roster and coaching changes again this offseason could be difficult.
The “Woj bomb” that shook the Chicago Bulls fan base and finally jolted this news cycle in the NBA on April 3 arrived in the form of a report of the formal beginning of front office changes. Vice president of basketball operations John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman could be seeing the door sooner than anticipated, or at least have less power in the Bulls front office.
ESPN’s NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski wasn’t the only one to jolt the Bulls news cycle of late, though. A piece written up by Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times that published on April 3 mentioned the possibility of the Bulls front office trying to package power forward Lauri Markkanen together in a trade package that would better fit the new direction of the rebuild.
Here’s more on what that piece from Cowley on the Chicago Sun-Times had to say about the idea of sending Markkanen away from the Bulls.
"Depending on who sits in those new GM/VP seats, Markkanen could be one such piece to be packaged, especially if they deem his unhappiness beyond repair. That doesn’t seem to be the case, but that will still have to be explored."
Ownership has discussed the plan with Executive VP of Basketball Operations John Paxson and GM Gar Forman, sources said. Paxson is likely to continue in an advisory role with franchise; there are expected to be more conversations with Forman about his future too. https://t.co/zLRRfjsFey
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 3, 2020
Something does have to give with the current roster at hand, the coaching staff, and front office personnel if this rebuild is to find more success in the coming years. Giving up on Markkanen completely shouldn’t be the first move at hand for whoever the Bulls land in this front office candidate search. But all options need to be on the table at this point in time.
The Bulls entered the novel coronavirus pandemic-induced NBA hiatus last month with a record of 22-43. They were well on pace to come close to matching their win total of the first year of the rebuild. That brings about a frustrating lack of progress through three years of this collapsing rebuild attempt.
Here’s a deeper look into the reasons why the Chicago Bulls should try for a trade involving third-year power forward Lauri Markkanen if the front office changes to cause him to see the door with this team.