8. New York Knicks – Lauri Markkanen
Falling one spot in the redraft to No. 8, LauriMarkkanen has had some peaks and valleys early in his NBA tenure. He’s had injury problems in each of his three seasons, navigated coaching changes, and has had to try to develop in a Chicago Bulls organization that, to be nice, wouldn’t be listed among the best front offices in basketball.
But there’s no doubt that Markkanen shows promise. He’s a modern big that can step out and shoot at a solid clip (35% on six attempts per game in his career). He gets most of his minutes at the 4 but I think you can get away with playing him at the 5 against smaller lineups and create a lot of space on offense.
The health questions are valid when trying to evaluate his long term potential and I’m not sold on his ceiling being much higher than it is right now. But his floor as a 14-20 point stretch big man is good enough if he can stay relatively healthy, and the New York Knicks get a clear upgrade in this spot over their original pick of Dennis Smith.