Chicago Bulls: 3 Lauri Markkanen pre-deadline trades

2) Chicago Bulls pre-deadline trades involving Markkanen

The Bulls likely wouldn’t want to make a huge splash trade out of the gates this season that is going to be very consequential, especially when the team is playing better of late. But if they would be able to get off some contracts that aren’t doing much to help the rotation and get some value to the current starting five in return, it might be worth pulling the trigger.

In this particular trade deal, the Bulls give up a good bit of their forward/frontcourt rotation. Along with the former Arizona Wildcat Markkanen, the Bulls ship off the veteran 6-foot-8 small forward Otto Porter Jr. and fourth-year former Vanderbilt Commodore center Luke Kornet. The Bulls can free up some room in the frontcourt rotation to make this deal happen by including Kornet in the mix.

What the Bulls get in return is a solid duo in the recently budding young talent, and former Texas Longhorns big man Mo Bamba, and the star center Nikola Vucevic. The Bulls would be able to place Bamba in the second unit and hopefully still allow his game to flourish as he finds a change of scenery a few years into his NBA career.

As one of the most underrated centers in this day and age in the NBA landscape, Vucevic would be a nice find for the Bulls. He was a first-time NBA All-Star selection two seasons ago, and is having a career year so far during the 2020-21 campaign. He’s registered one of the best player efficiency ratings in the NBA thus far, north of 28.0, and a box plus/minus rating just shy of 10.0.