Bulls restricted free agent forward Lauri Markkanen is looking to leave Chicago this offseason, he tells Finnish journalist Antti-Jussi Sipilä of Yle.fi (hat tip to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports).
“We have offers from several different teams,” Markkanen said in Finnish. “I want a fresh start to my NBA career somewhere else.”
The seventh overall pick in the 2017 draft, Markkanen showed a ton of promise as a stretch four during his first two NBA seasons, posting a career-high 18.7 PPG and 9.0 RPG on .430/.361/.872 shooting in 52 games (32.3 MPG) in 2018/19. However, his development trajectory has leveled off since then, as he has battled a series of injuries and provided up-and-down production.
Chicago issued Markkanen a $9MM qualifying offer last week, making him a restricted free agent and giving the team the right to match any offer sheet he signs.
With cap room drying up across the league, there are few teams left that could realistically sign the 24-year-old outright to an offer sheet that exceeds the Bulls’ qualifying offer or the full mid-level exception ($9.5MM). The Hornets were said to be mulling an offer sheet for Markkanen, but have since reached a deal with Kelly Oubre that projects to eat up most or all of their remaining space.
The Thunder and Pelicans are among the teams that could realistically generate enough room to make a play for Markkanen. However, there have been no reports indicating either club is considering an offer sheet. A sign-and-trade would also be a possibility to get Markkanen to a new team that doesn’t necessarily have the space to sign him outright, but that would require the Bulls’ cooperation and they’d seek at least an asset or two to let him walk.
A report earlier this week stated that the Spurs had interest in Markkanen in the DeMar DeRozan sign-and-trade, but weren’t comfortable meeting his asking price. The Timberwolves are also believed to have interest, but don’t have a ton of cap flexibility.
One additional option for Markkanen would be to accept his one-year qualifying offer, which would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent in 2022. However, if he’s eager to leave Chicago, that’s likely not his preferred path.
The Bulls’ interest – or lack thereof – in hanging onto Markkanen will likely dictate how this situation plays out. If the team is willing to let him go after reshaping its roster this week, a sign-and-trade seems like a plausible outcome.
Don’t know why the Thunder wouldn’t take a chance on him. He’s young still and they have no big contracts on the roster. Do they think one of those picks in the 20s is gonna be better than him?
They very well could be. Lauri hasn’t shown himself to be even an average NBA player yet. His shooting lines were decent from a couple of years ago, however he’s a huge liability on the defensive side of the ball. He’s always stood out to me as an overrated player, and now it seems like the rest of the league is catching up to that narrative
A few years ago “experts” wouldn’t shut up about how good he was.
I didn’t think he was very good at Arizona. He reminded me of Patrick Patterson or
He shot 48 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3 last season. How many random late first rounders even crack a team’s rotation. You’re lucky if its 50/50.
he very well couldn’t be and the majority of 20ish picks wont be better
its oklahoma you are talking about not the spurs or nuggets
he very well couldn’t be and the majority of 20ish picks wont be better
its oklahoma you are talking about not the spurs or nuggets
Hasn’t shown himself to be average? What?
Thats correct.
Based on what we’ve seen so far out of Lauri I’m sure they do….also they are no where near as expensive as he would be
So it would seem this young player is in a tough spot as money is drying up around the league, but he obviously doesn’t want to play for the Bulls anymore so when Chicago matches the offer sheet it’ll simply be a sign-and-trade situation, right?
Or, are sign-and-trades not legal with restricted free agents and you can’t sign and trade to the original offer team that your matching? The Bulls would have to sign and trade him to a totally different team?
Iggy just confirmed back to GSW YESSSS
Fairly good move because of his presence. I like it. Should be pretty beneficial to the young guys.
I think you can sign and trade him to a team that signed him to the offer sheet. They probably tell them they will match unless they do a sign and trade.
Once an offer sheet is officially signed, a sign-and-trade is off the table.
Until then, they could freely negotiate the terms of a sign-and-trade with a team interested in him. It could be a win-win — Bulls get an asset or two and Markkanen’s new team doesn’t have to worry about its offer being matched.
you can sign and trade as long as an RFA HASN’T signed an offer sheet, the moment he signs it he cant be sign and traded.
any team that wants to sign him to an offer sheet will have a quick chat with AK to see if they can work on a sign and trade
“Negotiate a sign-and-trade if he hasn’t signed an offer sheet with another team.”
link to nba.com
How about sign and trade to 76ers
Bulls get Simmons
76ers get Mark Williams White draft picks
Thats awful. Why would the Bulls give up picks for Simmons when they just signed Lonzo? lol.
Ball Lavine DeRozen Simmons Vuc
no no no, Simmons can stay in Phily
you don’t have the pieces morey would want anyway and its much better for the bulls to trade for someone like Siakama than for Simmons
Hate to break it to ya, but Siakam isn’t that easy to get. Hes an NBA champion locked up long term. He isn’t going anywhere, unless its for a star.
I know its not easy, I guess its easier than simmons though as morey is like the weird fantasy manager offering lauri for giannis telling you your FT will get better
however the raptors did draft a similar player and are shopping him, so we can dream
I don’t see how that lineup would work really, Lonzo Simmons derozan and Lavine can’t all play on the same lineup imo, also they already have given up so many picks and can’t really afford to pay Simmons contract, also considering they want to find a way to keep Lavine
Personally, I think they move LaVine for a big. Hopefully more market for him. And everything they’ve signed is backcourt, if you love LaVine I don’t think you go this deep on Ball, Caruso, DeRozan, and Deloitte- big trade coming
Touche
Not a chance they trade Lavine.
Timberwolves need PF help………Bulls can send a unhappy Lauri to MN ( with Javonte Green to match up salarys) and get back Taureen Prince?? Sign and trade?
Prince and Culver maybe
I don’t think MN wouldn’t mind Culver being sent….Been a major fail so far.
3 team deal, Minnesota gets Gallinari, Atlanta gets Lauri & Chicago gets a 2nd rd pick apiece from Atl & Min
Minnesota has to send out contracts
True… Bulls gets Juancho & Culver, Wolves gets Gallo & a 2nd from Atl, Hawks get Lauri
we need someone like naz reid, a 2nd pick and a filler
Reid’s staying put….has improved each year and is cheap. Mn is short on big’s already. No reason to give one up.
as a European I like Lauri a lot, but since he’s not willing to play for the bulls anymore so we should try to ship him somewhere for some picks and/or youn backup players like vanderbilt
I struggle to see what kind of offers he has though, when he rejected the Spurs offers
It’s crazy that they wouldn’t get much for Markkanen. This guy is the best young stretch 4 in the NBA . Bulls have totally messed this up. Total FO failure IMO . Don’t get why Spurs didn’t do what they could to get him. He’s a 20 n 10 guy to me. Who is still growing as a player.
the league doesn’t agree with you obviously
its not an FO failure, its a agent failure, since he could have accepted an extension last year but like shroeder he didn’t
I might like the kid, but he’s not worth 20M atm, thats why the Spurs didn’t sign him
Look at his stats. If you got any talent look at his gm over the yrs. It can actually be done in a day. When you let a rookie who put up those stats get to here. It’s a FO failure. Cause even if you don’t want him for your team. That 20 n 10 will get you plenty value back. Try thinking for yourself if you got strong opinions. This is not the only FO failure of the Bulls. We know plenty about FO failures.
you know you are not really that talented yourself what with praising every knicks signing and complaining about the bulls constantly (I get 90s must have been traumatic)
first of all he’s not 20 and 10, he’s 15 and 7, one season doesn’t make you 20 and 10
he also has a weak rebounding %, worse than olynyk and jarde dudley ffs
hge has non existent assist, steal and blocking % as well among PFs
also he’s injury prone, he has played 73% of all the bulls games, that’s 60 per year. just for comparison Anthony Davis has played 8 games more than him.
more importantly lavine and even butler before him had the same FO, they just pute the effort needed to get better, sadly lauri hasn’t managed that yet. he might do it in another team or he might not, time will tell
Spurs backed away citing Lauri’s high asking price. Not the bulls asking price.
Shame Mark should be a really good fit on this team
I heard the WNBA is calling.
Good news for Lauri is several teams are interested. Bad news is those teams are Fenerbahce, Real Madrid, Macabi Tel Aviv, and Olympiacos
It’s too bad Lauri is such an a-hole, cause he could make a lot of money if he would work out and become a true professional.
Lauri here is a fresh start. You can coach at a high school in Finland. But they won’t pay you $80 mil either. You and Schroeder must share an agent.