Lauri Markkanen Focused On Play-In, Not Free Agency
While the Chicago Bulls continue to push for a possible playoff spot, the future of Lauri Markkanen with the franchise remains entirely unclear. Markkanen will be a restricted free agent.
“Up and down in that way,” Markkanen told reporters after Monday’s shootaround when asked to summarize his season. “Start of the season I got the COVID thing so I couldn’t play, and then I felt like I was playing well for whatever, a month-and-a-half period before I got hurt, kind of found my rhythm there, and then you sit out… And then we got a little bit different team now (after the deadline) and playing [small forward], so it’s been a lot of new stuff.
“But like every year you have your good moments and you have your bad stuff happening. I think I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can, and learn new stuff on the fly.”
Markkanen hasn't begun to look ahead to the offseason yet.
“I haven’t thought about that at all. I let all that kind of stuff happen its own way after the season,” Markkanen said when asked if he thinks this season could be his last with the Bulls. “I can’t focus on that. What do we got? Eight games left? Just try and make this play-in spot, and that’s my focus right now. Like I said, I’m going to give it all I have, and I’m not thinking about the future right now. I can’t control that, so I don’t know.’’