Lauri Markkanen would be the impossible dream PF for the Phoenix Suns

And this is why it is probably impossible

If James Jones were willing to give up Booker, Chicago probably makes the trade.

Obviously that isn’t going to happen, so the only way to even try  and make a blockbuster deal is either through a means of helping Chicago open up enough cap space to acquire a major star (or two) in free agency, or facilitate the acquisition of one through a three-team trade.

Of course Chicago likely wants to acquire a player to play alongside Markkanen the same as Phoenix wants to place Marakkanen alongside Booker and Ayton, but for this dream to ever become a reality, we can only theorize the possibility of acquiring him under the assumption that Chicago could actually have a greater shot at a superstar in free agency than we are currently aware of.

Phoenix Suns

All we really have to go on is this: like the Suns, the Bulls are continuing to rebuild, and the chances are that they are not going to find the next star with the seventh overall pick in the draft. They too are probably a little bit earlier in their own process of rebuilding than Phoenix is, and although they are in the Eastern Conference where even a really  good college team could make the playoffs, they are a ways away from competing just yet.

What the Suns could offer right away is another lottery ticket in the form of a draft pick with the sixth overall pick. They could also offer the 32nd overall pick, and Milwaukee’s 2020 first overall pick – which might as well be a second rounder so, eh.

At that point, Chicago would have the sixth, seventh, 32nd, and 38th overall picks in the draft, but will have lost arguably their best young player to do so.

So that alone does not work.

Chicago also does not have any major contracts on their books that the Suns could potentially offer to take off of their hands – aside from Otto Porter who is way  overpaid but had a solid 15 games for the Bulls last season after they acquired him from Washington. That said, if Chicago already regrets that trade, Phoenix could  take him for the opportunity at Markannen and take on the cap mess that he is arguably causing the Bulls as we speak.

The Suns could potentially then offer T.J. Warren and Mikal Bridges (Warren is a better scorer than Porter and Bridges a superior defender, plus I am going to speculate and say they don’t want anything to do with Josh Jackson).

That or the Bulls end up in the Anthony Davis sweepstakes and the Suns sidle in on a three-team deal (especially with Zion coming in, one could argue that he and Markannen would clash offensively).

Unfortunately, unless a three-team deal materialized for a superstar (or FA signing like Kevin Durant, I guess) causing a clash at PF, the only way for a move of this kind to occur would be if Chicago Bulls management believed that they were still so far away from relevance that regardless of Marakkanen’s potential, they needed quantity of young players over quality at the moment and saw the opportunity to have multiple top-ten picks plus two young players right away.

A trade like this would be a dream for the Phoenix Suns, which ultimately is about all it very well could be. However, as I have regularly argued, James Jones needs to try and find a way to move a splash trade, and for me, finding a way to acquire Markannen would be the ultimate dream-chasing scenario.