Chicago Bulls: Lauri Markkanen injury throws curveball to start the season
Lauri Markkanen‘s injury that will force him to miss up to two months throws an early curveball to the Chicago Bulls to start the 2018-19 season
The Chicago Bulls haven’t played a minute of meaningful basketball, but have already suffered a roadblock to maximizing their potential.
After suffering an elbow injury, Lauri Markkanen is expected to miss six-to-eight weeks. This comes at a rough time for the Bulls, who are still trying to gel as a team. They’re a makeshift roster with a ton of talent, but not the best fitting one.
Losing Markkanen, who is one of their mainstays on the roster, to start the season will make it all the more difficult. He is penciled in to start at the power forward position, but now Fred Hoiberg will have to shift things a bit.
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Because of this injury, Jabari Parker will likely make the shift down to the power forward start. It was reported earlier this summer that the Bulls could use him at the small forward position. That experiment will likely have to wait a while with the Markkanen injury.
It also means we could see a lot more Bobby Portis and Wendell Carter Jr. a bit more, earlier than expected this season. Which can be a good or bad thing, depending on how you view Portis and how really WCJ is ready to contribute as a rookie.
Assuming that Markkanen will miss the start of the season, this could make the start for the Bulls even more turbulent. But, at the same, this could help give MCJ some valuable playing time. Portis could also get some run, to showcase himself in the event that Chicago elects to try to move him before the NBA Trade Deadline, who is a restricted free agent after this season.
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There’s no question that Markkanen injury will hurt this team’s ability to grow, at least early on in the season, but it could open the door for other young players to step up, which should be an exciting possibility for Chicago Bulls fans.