Thinking about trading Chicago Bulls 23-year-old power forward Lauri Markkanen would open up a plethora of options in return.
One of the most decisive moves that the Chicago Bulls could make this offseason would be a potential trade involving fourth-year former Arizona Wildcats seven-footer and power forward Lauri Markkanen. The 7-foot and 240 pound 23-year-old Vantaa, Finland, native was the seventh overall pick of the Bulls in the 2017 NBA Draft. And his stint with the Bulls thus far hasn’t worked out as planned.
Last season was possibly the worst to date for Markkanen in the NBA. He wasn’t very good for the Bulls, and had some of his usual injury struggles. In 50 games played last season (all of which he started in), Markkanen posted career-lows in field goal percentage, three-point shooting percentage, free-throw percentage, points per game, rebounds, blocks, and tied for a career high in turnovers.
More specifically, Markkanen averaged 14.7 points per game, 6.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.5 blocks. He 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 -0.6 box plus/minus rating, 0.5 value over replacement player rating, .084 win shares per 48 minutes, 2.6 total win shares, 56.0 true shooting percentage, and a 14.3 player efficiency rating.
After the poor numbers that Markkanen produced in his third season in the NBA, the thoughts started to come out about what the Bulls should do with him heading into the final year of his rookie contract. According to a report last week from Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, Markkanen was making it “privately known” how he wasn’t happy with the direction of the organization at season’s end and likely wanted to go elsewhere if nothing changed.
While the Bulls have made significant changes to the front office since, should there still be thoughts about possibly trading Markkanen? Here’s a look into three worthy players to target in a trade if the Bulls to explore shipping out Markkanen.