Of course, he’d be perfect for Phoenix
Listen (or read – whatever), I know that there has been zero talk of Markkanen being on the trade block. He is a solid young power forward and a potential cornerstone-type player if placed on a good team.
I did a lot of research before writing this just to see how much of a possibility there could be that the Bulls would be willing to trade him for any reason, and while I never saw the words “untouchable” or “untradable,” I also never saw anything that mentioned even “if” the Bulls traded him, how much could they get back.
He is basically discussed as if he was untouchable, and while I am sure Chicago has a selling point, I am not sure short of Devin Booker where their price point could potentially be.
Markkanen has only been in the league for two seasons, but while injuries have hampered his playing time a little bit thus far (he has missed a total of 44 games since he entered the league), he has started all but one game in his career, last year putting up a fantastic line of 18.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 36.1% from 3.
At 21-years-old, every Phoenix Suns fan should be drooling at the likes of placing him next to Booker and Ayton.
However, unlike when Phoenix acquired already superstar Jason Kidd in 1996 in only his third season, Markkanen isn’t part of a triad of trouble and by all accounts is a good player in the locker room.
And while I am upset to this day that the Suns didn’t find a way to steal Kristaps Porzingis from the Knicks when he seemed untouchable yet was still traded to Dallas, Porzingis had had a souring relationship for some time that Markkanen does not seem to have in the Windy City.
Acquiring Markkanen would be extremely difficult – although James Jones should absolutely kick the tires. Hell, light the fire himself, if he needs to. Find out what their price point is (including picks) and try reaching it.
Like the Suns, the Chicago Bulls are in a rebuilding phase and hit rock bottom last season (so they hope) when they finished 22-60. Then, much to their fan’s chagrin, the lottery failed them as they were leap-frogged three times (like Phoenix) and fell from fourth in the lottery to seventh in the draft.
While the Bulls do seem to have solid shooters at almost every position (Kris Dunn at point, Zach LaVine at shooting guard, Otto Porter at small forward, and of course Markkanen at power forward), they lack that above average distributor to allow those shooters better opportunities and a more free-flowing offense.
As one writer for Pippen Ain’t Easy noted, like Phoenix, they too need that point guard necessary to make the offense run, and proposed that Chicago should leap-frog the Suns and grab the best available before James Jones could.
When I first read that, I couldn’t help but in my mind imagine the famous meme of Luke Skywalker shouting “Nnnnooooooooooo” (I am not sure if I misspelled that), but then I wondered: if the Bulls might be willing to leap-frog Phoenix, why not just give them their spot?