The Bulls‘ already slim playoff hopes took a nosedive on Friday night as Finnish big man Lauri Markkanen suffered a high-grade lateral elbow sprain. The injury will sideline Markkanen for six-to-eight weeks, which will sideline him for the entire preseason the several weeks to begin the regular season.
Entering his sophomore season, Markkanen is looking to build off a solid rookie campaign in which he averaged 15.2 PPG and 7.5 RPG in 29.7 MPG while appearing in 68 games. The 7-footer was the seventh overall pick in the 2017 draft.
“Obviously it’s disappointed to be out. It’s been such a long offseason and I’ve worked hard and just ready to play basketball again,” Markkanen told reporters, including K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. “It’d disappointing; I don’t know how long it’s going to take but I’m going to be right back.”
Markkanen, 21, said the injury occurred in practice on a “normal basketball play” as several players went for a rebound. He added that his elbow felt worse the next day, which prompted the MRI and the diagnosis. It’s a major blow to a young Chicago team going through a rebuilding stage, but Markkanen maintained a positive outlook during his media session.
“It’s a minor setback,” he said. “I’m just ready to get back to work. Hopefully, I can be even a little better than I am right now. You can always improve other things.
“I know my shot is going to be there. I’m not worried about that. Now I can work on my lefty a little bit.”
Below are more notes on Markkanen’s injury:
- New Bulls swingman Jabari Parker, no stranger to season-shortening injuries himself, weighed in on what the loss of Markkanen means for the Bulls. “It’s deflating because that’s one of our key pieces,” Parker said. “And I think that’s just going to put us behind, especially me trying to figure out chemistry. But as long as he is around then we’re going to try to do it another way instead of being on the court.”
- Executive vice president John Paxson weighed in on the injury, noting that getting Markkanen healed will take precedence over him returning to the court. “We’re being careful with the timeframe,” Paxson said. “He’s so important to us that we want to make sure he’s healthy. Like we’ve tried to do with all our guys, we won’t rush him back.”
- As we noted previously, in Markkanen’s extended absence, Chicago could use Bobby Portis in a starting capacity or shift Parker from small forward to power forward.
Start valentine at sf and Jabari at 4. Bobby is really good off the bench and Jabari is better as a 4 Anyway. Valentine is a above average shooter and he has some playmaking ability which is helpful. I just think the bulls need a shooter to replace markkenan and while Justin Holiday is an ok shooter valentine is much better
Valentine is a SG, not SF. I don’t get why people keep thinking he’s anything but a SG.
Because he’s too slow to guard team”s opposing Guards…He may fit as a SG offensively, but he projects much better defensively against opposing team’s SF’s…Although, to be honest, he isn’t exactly a world beater on defense wherever you put Valentine..
However, I’m curious if it was Portis that was also going up for the rebound that ultimately lead to Lauri’s injury…Bobby strikes again!!!! lol…I feel bad for anyone ahead of him on the depth chart, it’s an immediate target on their back!! haha
*nod*
*chuckle*
Valentine is not even an NBA caliber player lol. He has done nothing to show he deserves to stick in the NBA. Never has improved and can’t even shoot when that’s supposed to be his calling card. And he got COOKED by Frank Nitty at Drew League this summer. He is not working hard enough to keep an NBA roster spot.