Chicago Bulls: 3 reasons to trade Lauri Markkanen this offseason

3. He’s not meshing well with the other key pieces of the young core

There’s not much proof that the Bulls should keep Lauri just due to the showing he’s put alongside the other key franchise cornerstones at this point of the rebuild. One of the most critical factors to Markkanen becoming one of the faces of the franchise during this Bulls rebuild is meshing well with the rest of the young core.

In terms of two-man combinations, one of the least efficient pairings that Lauri had so far this season came with the rising star shooting guard Zach LaVine. The most time that Lauri spent with any one player on the floor this season came with LaVine too. Hitting three percent less field goal attempts, .2 percent less three-pointers, and turning the ball over more than twice than usual per 100 possessions is no way for Markkanen and LaVine to mesh as the two most important Bulls players.

And in terms of three-man combinations, two of the worst trios along with Markkanen involved arguably two of the other most important pieces of the rebuild at the moment. Center Wendell Carter Jr. and rookie point guard Coby White helped Markkanen to just shy of a 10 percent worst field goal percentage this season. His other two least efficient three-man combinations, in terms of shooting percentages, also came with just White, WCJ, and LaVine.

On the other hand, the two players that best helped Markkanen on the floor together included rookie center Daniel Gafford and underrated combo guard Shaquille Harrison. Since Gafford and Harrison could still be key figures in the rotation next season, that’s good that he can play well with them. What’s problematic is that those are the only two other Bulls players that he combines with individually to shoot better than his regular average from the field this season.