Chicago Bulls: 3 most tradeable contracts on current roster

1) Bulls most tradeable contracts: Lauri Markkanen, Power Forward

Apparently the situation between the to-be fourth-year former Arizona Wildcats power forward Lauri Markkanen and the Bulls isn’t too great. But that was earlier in the offseason in which Markkanen apparently had a lot of criticism for the Bulls, mainly their front office and coaching staff. They have radically re-shifted the look of the coaching staff and front office since then.

At this point, it does feel like the Bulls are going to bring back Markkanen for at least part of the final year of his rookie contract. But since Markkanen is entering the last year of his rookie deal, he would be a potential low-to-middle risk and very high reward trade chip that a number of teams around the NBA would be interested in, depending on the Bulls asking price.

In the season that was for the Bulls, Markkanen played in 50 games (starting in all of them). He averaged 14.7 points per game, 6.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.5 blocks. Markkanen shot 42.5 percent from the field, 34.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 82.4 percent from the free-throw line.

That amounted to a career-low 0.5 value over replacement player rating, 0.6 box plus/minus rating, .084 win shares per 48 minutes, 2.6 total win shares, 14.3 player efficiency rating, and a 56.0 true shooting percentage. The advanced metrics weren’t great for Markkanen, and neither were the per game stats and shooting percentages.

But the $6.7 million he’s due in the final year of his rookie contract isn’t a bad price at all given what his production could be in his fourth season in the NBA.