Lauri Markkanen and the Chicago Bulls had a quite disappointing season, before the NBA hiatus. Markkanen experienced a statistical drop in every category, after the best season of his early career as a sophomore.
According to the Bulls’ president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas, the team ‘would like to get the best version of him next season’.
“We’ve spoken to Lauri numerous times. He’s been very patient, stayed in the market. His family is now with him,” Karnisovas said at the end of the year conference call per NBC Sports.
“I spoke to him about last year. He’s eager to get back to the gym and improve. He was disappointed by the overall result (last season). Every player wants to win. He’s about winning, as well. Our objective is to get the best version of Lauri next year. We agreed in conversations that this is our objective, and we’re going to try to do it.”
The young forward out of Finland is eligible to sign a contract extension with the Chicago Bulls in the coming off-season.
With the Bulls being excluded from the 22-team resumption plan, Karnisovas will have the time to work in order to find ways to improve the current members of the roster, including Markkanen.
“We’ll set expectations, which are pretty high,” Karnisovas said via NBC Sports. “And it’s about improvement. Each player, from talking to them, they were disappointed with last year’s result.“We’re going to strive to get better. Same thing with Lauri. We have a lot of time this offseason. We’re going to put a plan together for him. We’re going to schedule and do that.”
