NBA Trade Grades: Grading three-team Lauri Markkanen sign-and-trade
By Duncan Smith
It took what seems like forever, but one of the biggest questions in the NBA offseason was answered on Friday as Lauri Markkanen found his new home. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Markkanen was moved to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team sign and trade involving the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Chicago Bulls and the Portland Trail Blazers.
Here’s how the deal breaks down for all parties:
We’ll take a look at this deal from the perspective of each team and grade their portion of the deal, and we’ll start with the Chicago Bulls, who have been one of the most active teams in the NBA since last season’s trade deadline.
NBA Trade Grades for the Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls were absolutely done with Lauri Markkanen with no chance of reconciliation, so getting some value out of his departure is a good piece of business from executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas.
They get a pretty good wing defender in Derrick Jones Jr., who could be paired with Zach LaVine in some configurations to make up for LaVine’s defensive shortcomings. In addition, the Bulls get back a little bit of draft capital to make up for the gobs of picks they’ve been sending out in recent months.
This deal is short and sweet for the Bulls, and they come away looking good here.