Chicago Bulls: Projecting starting 5 if they trade for Chris Paul

Chicago Bulls starting power forward: Lauri Markkanen

There’s a lot of ways that the Bulls could go if they’re trying to rebuild much of the look of their starting five in this hypothetical CP3 trade scenario. It is worth giving the former Arizona Wildcats seven-footer and to-be fourth year power forward Lauri Markkanen a shot if the Bulls really improved their rotation from the top-down next season.

And there is a valid case that a lot of Bulls fans could make that Markkanen could have a real bounce back season now that he won’t be coached up by Boylen. Donovan was able to help bigs like veteran center Steven Adams and former Clippers forward Danilo Gallinari excel in their roles, respectively in the last few seasons.

Markkanen does need to have that big leap heading into the final year of his rookie contract. If he doesn’t make some significant strides in his fourth year in the NBA than the Bulls could look to trade him before too long. His trade value is still pretty good, and he might command a pretty big contract next offseason once his rookie deal is done.

During the shortened 2019-20 regular season, Markkanen played in 50 games with the Bulls (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. And Markkanen shot 42.5 percent from the field, 34.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 82.4 percent from the free-throw line.