The Bulls have extended a qualifying offer to forward Lauri Markkanen, making him a restricted free agent, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
The QO is worth just over $9MM but Markkanen is expected to receive a deal exceeding that amount on the open market. Markannen is coming off a somewhat disappointing 2020/21 campaign in which he averaged a career-low 13.6 PPG and 5.3 RPG. His playing time diminished after Nikola Vucevic and Daniel Theis were acquired at the trade deadline.
Markannen said in May he intended to explore his free agent options. He was the seventh overall pick of the 2017 draft.
“My thing is I think I’ve always been a team-first guy. And I think now it’s time to look at the business side of the game,” Markkanen said. “I feel like I’m only 23 years old and I have a lot of basketball ahead of me. It’s a good opportunity to look what’s out there for me. I can be a focal point. I think I have a lot more to offer.”
Spurs, Raptors, Kings, or Pelicans can all use this guy.
SASpurs …
Trade him
Sonics could really use him
Haha
They could use a lot of things there, that franchise is an absolute disaster.
Atleast they have a beautiful new arena
The dirty secret is that Markkanen is incredibly home sick. His production is going to continue to slip as more time goes by. Unfortunately there is no way around this.
Prelude to a sign abd trade deal
They have to do this and attempt a sign and trade. If that doesn’t happen you just don’t match an offer. No way they bring him back. They won’t have the cap.
If somehow someway, no team makes an offer for Markkanen, then the Bulls can keep Markkanen on a one year $9 million dollar deal. I would do that if I were the Bulls. Apparently that isn’t what will happen. Some teams will make offers.