Chicago Bulls: BR pitches Lauri Markkanen to the Spurs this summer

One of the most hotly discussed topics for the Chicago Bulls throughout the latter stages of the regular season was what would happen with fourth-year power forward and impending restricted free agent Lauri Markkanen. With the former Arizona Wildcat and seven-footer Markkanen set to hit free agency this summer, it now feels like almost a given that he won’t be wearing a Bulls uniform next season.

The Bulls don’t have a whole lot of wiggle room on the books this offseason, and re-signing Markkanen could limit them even further. Since head coach Billy Donovan didn’t put Markkanen in the starting five much at all down the stretch this season, the time might be coming for the “Finnisher” to take his talents elsewhere.

And in a piece from Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report on June 29, the prediction went down for Markkanen to sign out of restricted free agency with legendary head coach Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. The idea of Markkanen landing with the Spurs is one that was tossed around since the trade deadline. It also feels like one that makes a lot of sense.

Chicago Bulls PF Lauri Markkanen a future member of the Spurs?

Markkanen played well out of the gates for the Bulls this season, but his numbers started to falter a good bit down the stretch. He finished up the season with some solid shooting numbers, but the per-game stats left something to be desired.

Still, there is that feeling that the Spurs can be a nice change of scenery for Markkanen. Maybe that is true, and this piece from BR spoke on why the fit could work out for Lauri in San Antonio.

"Markkanen’s shooting is legit. He’s at 36.6 percent on 1,346 career attempts from deep and is particularly deadly from the corners. Any team in need of a big who can space the floor in a limited role should have its eye on the 7-footer, though it should be understood that Markkanen is going to be a target on D.He needs to land with an organization that already has strong defenders at the guard and wing spots, plus a genuine rim-protector inside. That’s basically the perfect description of the San Antonio Spurs, who should field a 2021-22 lineup including Dejounte Murray, Derrick White and Jakob Poeltl."

This piece from BR also mentioned that Markkanen will likely sign with the Spurs for no more than $15 million per year. There was a point in time in which a near-max contract level extension and or re-signing out of restricted free agency was a topic of conversation for Markkanen once his rookie contract ran up.

But given the way that his game has played out inconsistently in the past couple of seasons, getting anything close to max contract level money is very much out of the question.

Markkanen averaged 13.6 points per game, 5.3 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.3 blocks, this season. And he shot 48 percent from the field, 40 percent from beyond the arc, and 83 percent from the free-throw line.

Some of those numbers aren’t too shabby, but it doesn’t seem like enough for the Bulls to give him even more money for his annual salary than he was getting in the latter years of his rookie deal.

The Bulls finished up the 2020-21 regular season with a record of 31-41 under Donovan’s direction in his first year as head coach. That led to the Bulls extending their postseason drought to four years now.