Bulls Rumors: 3 Mavs players to get in Lauri Markkanen sign-and-trade

Lauri Markkanen sign-and-trade targets from the Mavs: Dwight Powell

The 30-year-old Canadian big man Dwight Powell has missed a good bit of time over the course of the past two seasons for the Mavs. Various injury issues limited Powell to under 60 games in each of the past two regular seasons. But Powell was still very productive for the Mavs in the time he was healthy for the team since the start of the 2019-20 season.

Powell would also be a very nice backup big man for the Bulls to get in the mix for head coach Billy Donovan, if at all possible.

Powell now has two years left on his current contract, worth an average annual value just shy of $12 million. That could also be a good fit for salary matching purposes in hypothetical trade talks between the Mavs and Bulls.

In the last four seasons with the Mavs, Powell started in around half of the regular season games he played in. That means he could slide nicely into a role of a backup center, ahead of the likes of Simonovic and Bradley heading into next season.

Once again, the availability of Powell all hinges on how much the likes of Kidd and the Mavs’ new-look front office regime feels about Markkanen with the rest of their rotation. Powell is a career Maverick, but he doesn’t have the same ceiling as Markkanen.

It is pretty easy to see a deal where the Bulls and Mavs could have a one-for-one player swap in a sign-and-trade involving Powell and Markkanen. It offers value to both sides involved in this trade deal.