Chicago Bulls: 4 Takeaways from the win over the Cavaliers

Chicago Bulls Takeaway from the win: Lauri Markkanen’s roller-coaster season continues, this time in a positive way

Common among Chicago Bulls fans is frustration and disappointment in how things have played out in the fourth year of Lauri Markkanen’s NBA career. He has had moments that remind fans why he was an early lottery pick and he has followed those outings with games where he seems disinterested in scoring the basketball.

Tonight was one of the good nights for Markkanen in what could be his final season playing in Chicago. It is a reminder of why teams would be interested in adding him and jumping at the opportunity to maximize the skill set he has.

Markkanen was second on the team in scoring, finishing with 16 points on 6-12 shooting. He added six defensive rebounds in 26 minutes of action off the Bulls bench. The six field goals made match the total field goals he made in the Bulls previous four games combined.

If Chicago is going to survive the absence of LaVine they are going to need more of these performances from Markkanen. It would help both parties, as the team would win more games and Lauri would set himself up for potentially bigger contract offers this offseason.

He has all the talent, the issue has seemingly been confidence. That became more evident when he switched to coming off the bench and started having games where he looked like he had no interest in scoring.

The sharpshooting big man needs to play like this more often and this game served as a reminder of the X-factor he could be for the Bulls down the stretch.