© Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports
A look back at the last player trade the Chicago Bulls made in 2021
In a league as fluid as the NBA, where trades are regularly completed, the Chicago Bulls are the exception. The franchise’s decision-makers have sat on their hands in the last two trade deadlines, with the last trade they made being in 2021.
The Bulls’ inactivity at the deadline last week raised plenty of eyebrows, considering the team’s need to set a definitive course for a franchise mired in mediocrity over the last two seasons.
Here’s a look back at the last player trade the Bulls completed in August 2021.
Traded Lauri Markkanen away
Markkanen was the seventh overall pick of the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2017, but he was traded along with Zach LaVine to Chicago in the deal that brought Jimmy Butler to Minnesota.
Although the Finnish star played solid basketball, averaging 15.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in four seasons in the Windy City, the Bulls’ decision-makers didn’t believe he was part of the team’s long-term plans.
In August 2021, Chicago sent Markkanen to the Cleveland Cavaliers as part of a three-team trade. The Bulls received Derrick Jones Jr., a solid perimeter defender, a 2022 first-round draft pick, and a 2023 second-round draft pick.
Big mistake?
Hindsight is 20-20, and looking back, the Bulls may have pulled the trigger too early on Markkanen. Since getting traded from Cleveland to the Utah Jazz, he has become Salt Lake City’s savior, becoming an All-Star and the Most Improved Player in his first stint there. He averaged 25.6 points and 8.6 rebounds, establishing himself as the Jazz’s go-to guy and the piece the franchise is building around.
As for Jones, he played two seasons in Chicago and was hardly a contributor, averaging 5.3 points and 2.8 rebounds.
