Chicago Bulls: Can Lauri Markkanen reach elite status after win over Mavs?

On the afternoon of Jan. 17, the Chicago Bulls fourth-year power forward Lauri Markkanen proved to fans in the Windy City (and around the NBA landscape in general) that it wouldn’t take him too long to shake off the rust in returning to the rotation. First-year head coach Billy Donovan saw his Bulls team upend superstar point guard Luka Doncic and the talented Dallas Mavericks on the road at the American Airlines Center on Jan. 17, just after Markkanen’s return to the starting five.

It was the night of Jan. 15 that Markkanen officially returned to the starting five for the Bulls after missing on more than a half dozen games early in the regular season slate. Markkanen dealt with both a lower-body injury issue and a violation of the league’s health and safety protocols after the turn of the calendar year that prevented him from playing in seven of the Bulls 13 games thus far.

And it was somewhat of a slow return for Markkanen to the starting five in a really embarrassing loss for Donovan and the Bulls at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder in overtime back on Jan. 15.

After the Bulls got out of a five day long hiatus (since their originally scheduled Jan. 12 matchup at home with the Boston Celtics was pushed due to novel coronavirus related issues), they weren’t able to take care of business against the Thunder. They blew a more than 20 point third quarter lead to ultimately fall short to the Thunder in overtime by just a two point margin.

But the Bulls started to right the ship again on Jan. 17, as they got a nice double-digit win over the Mavs. In the process, Markkanen had a really nice game. He registered a team and season-high 29 points, to go along with 10 rebounds and three assists. Markkanen shot an efficient 10-of-19 from the field, 2-of-7 from beyond the arc, and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line.

In six games played so far this season (all of which he’s started in), Markkanen is getting around 29 minutes on the floor per game. He’s averaged 19.0 points per game, 7.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.5 blocks. And Markkanen shot 48.1 percent from the field, a solid 41.0 percent from beyond the arc, and 82.8 percent from the free-throw line.

That all has amounted to a career-best (at least so far) 0.8 box plus/minus rating, .127 win shares per 48 minutes, 0.5 total win shares, 63.5 true shooting percentage, and 18.9 player efficiency rating. Most of those advanced stats are good for career bests for Markkanen thus far.

Moreover, Markkanen is also showing out better than the league-adjusted averaged in three-point shooting percentage, field goal percentage, free-throw percentage, effective field goal percentage, true shooting percentage, and points added for the team as a whole by field goal shooting. That is an impressive bit of production and efficiency in shooting range for Markkanen out of the gates.

What this shows from Markkanen’s production so far this season is that he could finally be reaching that high ceiling and insane potential as a stretch big man and versatile seven-footer that so many knew he had as the seventh overall pick back in the 2017 NBA Draft. Markkanen showed flashes over the course of the past two or three years, but never lived up to the hype consistently.

Still a big task at hand for Markkanen and the Bulls will be keeping him healthy on a consistent basis. It’s hard to say he wouldn’t have got a much better opportunity to come closer to reaching his lofty potential earlier in his NBA career had he not had at least one major bout with injury issues in each of the three complete seasons to date.

On the night of Jan. 18, Markkanen and the Bulls are set to take on the Houston Rockets (now without superstar guard James Harden) at home at the United Center. Tip off time between the 5-8 Bulls and the 4-7 Rockets is set for 7 p.m. CT.