Not so long ago, it seemed like Lauri Markkanen could be one of the league’s next stars. He was a shooting big man with a knack for scoring from all three levels, showing glimpses of the early days of Kristaps Porzingis.
Sadly, injuries, poor coaching, and a lack of commitment on the defensive end made Markkanen regress and even lose his starting spot with the Chicago Bulls, which is why he wasn’t expected to come back next season.
The Bulls handed him a qualifying offer worth $9 million, far below the $20+ million Lauri and his agent were looking for. Sadly for him, it seems like there aren’t any takers for his services at that steep price.
So, even though some teams have reached out to him and the Bulls on a potential deal, he’s likely to stay in the Windy City:
“Lauri Markkanen’s situation is very much “up-in-the-air” right now as the Timberwolves, Mavericks, Spurs, Pelicans and Bulls have all expressed interest in him over the last few weeks. A return to Chicago is not out of the picture yet, but not much has been said by his camp,” Brett Seigel reported.
“Markkanen made a statement a week or so ago stating that he “wanted a fresh start,” but Chicago is still interested in retaining the young forward on his $9M qualifying offer, which would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason in 2022. San Antonio was interested in Markkanen via a sign-and-trade for DeRozan, but did not want to pay him as much as he was asking. Minnesota and New Orleans both are interested in a potential sign-and-trade, but again, for a less price than he wants,” he added on follow-up Tweets.
Lauri Markkanen's situation is very much "up-in-the-air" right now as the Timberwolves, Mavericks, Spurs, Pelicans and Bulls have all expressed interest in him over the last few weeks. A return to Chicago is not out of the picture yet, but not much has been said by his camp.
— Brett Siegel (@BrettSiegelNBA) August 22, 2021
San Antonio was interested in Markkanen via a sign-and-trade for DeRozan, but did not want to pay him as much as he was asking. Minnesota and New Orleans both are interested in a potential sign-and-trade, but again, for a less price than he wants.
— Brett Siegel (@BrettSiegelNBA) August 22, 2021
Markkanen is still young and could be a valuable asset going forward. But even though he wants a fresh start elsewhere, it just doesn’t make any sense for the Bulls to just let him go for nothing.
So, it seems like he’ll have to stay with the new-look Bulls and showcase his talents to convince any team to trade for him at some point next season.
