Chicago Bulls: 3 players Donovan should be disappointed in from 20-21

Lauri Markkanen, PF

Down the stretch this season was the perfect time for fourth-year power forward Lauri Markkanen to get his game going in the right direction. But instead, he came out of the gates very hot and didn’t finish out on the best of notes. There were some flashes in the very final games of the regular season, but that was largely after the Bulls were eliminated from postseason contention.

Various rumors have dropped concerning Markkanen’s free agent status of late, and it sounds like he will at least hit the open market and see what’s out there this offseason. Markkanen was in the midst of the final year of his rookie contract. And since he and the front office weren’t able to come to an agreement for a contract extension already, he’s going to hit restricted free agency.

This looks to be the most high-profile looming free agent for the Bulls this offseason. And Markkanen is going to command starter-level money on his offer sheet in restricted free agency. Although he didn’t get many starts with Donovan and the Bulls down the stretch this season, he still was in the starting five in more than half of his games played.

Nonetheless, the production for Markkanen just wasn’t all that great in the season that was. In just over 50 games played, he averaged 13.6 points per game, 5.3 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.3 blocks. And Markkanen shot 48.0 percent from the field, 40.2 percent from beyond the arc, and 82.6 percent from the free-throw line.

It was nice to see Markkanen post career-best shooting percentages from the field and from beyond the arc. But he also registered his second-worst player efficiency rating of his career at 15.2, a 0.0 box plus/minus rating, and just over .100 win shares per 48 minutes.