Cleveland Cavaliers: Lauri Markkanen is pumped for next step

The Cleveland Cavaliers recently acquired Lauri Markkanen via sign-and-trade from the Chicago Bulls, and while the key cost was sending out Larry Nance Jr. to the Portland Trail Blazers, one could get Cleveland’s rationale. Nance also expressed in an interview with Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor (subscription required) how the Cavs worked with him to get him to a “win-now” situation and seemingly one with perhaps a more prominent role, with Cleveland’s big situation.

In Markkanen’s case, even with him not being a wing shooter, is a polished perimeter shooter that should be an impactful catch-and-shoot player and spacer for the Wine and Gold.

Markkanen has admittedly had some ups and downs the past two seasons, with injuries surely playing into that to an extent, and last season, he closed out with an inconsistent role.

But even so, in his career, the 7-foot Markkanen has shown plenty of offensive capabilities in the scoring sense for Chicago when he’s been healthy/himself, if you will, as KJG’s Amadou Sow hit on. And he’s still had a respectable 15.6 points per outing, and last year, while his production overall did dip a bit with a lesser minutes-share, he did still hit 40.2 percent of his 5.8 attempts per game.

Nonetheless, a change of scenery for the former restricted free agent could help him out in coming years, and maybe we’ll see him still have a crucial role next season and he can be the go-to guy for Cleveland’s bench.

For now, just in a general sense, it is evident that Markkanen will hopefully have learned from his time in Chicago, but he is excited for a new opportunity with the Cavaliers. He stressed that in an interview recently with K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago, and stated that he doesn’t believe he’s “hit close” to his ceiling yet.

Markkanen is pumped for this next step with the Cavs.

Markkanen noted how the last couple of seasons haven’t been ideal, however, he’s ready to move forward and he’s grown, and that he was grateful for the people that enabled him to get a “fresh start,” here was more via, Johnson.

"‘The last couple years have been mentally pretty tough,” Markkanen said. ‘I’ve grown as a person because of that so I wouldn’t change it. I’ve learned a lot. But I felt like I need to get back to the old me and how I know I can play the game. I think this is a good opportunity to do that.‘I’m happy. I’m really excited to and looking forward. We kind of felt like I needed a fresh start. And I appreciate all the people who were involved to help faciliate it and make it happen.”‘"

Johnson did touch on how Markkanen had previously stated that he views himself as a starter before with the Bulls, but with it appearing that Evan Mobley could very well start at the 4, and with his long term outlook, I’d anticipate Markkanen will be a go-to bench guy. That could change/perhaps I’m wrong, I’d just still think Markkanen will have a crucial role, and Johnson emphasized how he knows he will still have that.

From there, Markkanen thanked the Bulls and seemingly their fan base/the city for his experiences there near the end, which was nice to see, but earlier in it highlighted how he believes he can fit in well in Cleveland.

And he is looking forward to learning the game from Kevin Love, who has proven himself throughout the years as a valuable stretch big and mid-post scorer/defensive rebounder, albeit when healthy, like Markkanen. Here was a bit more involving those comments, via Johnson.

"‘I think I fit in well – young core, exciting point guards. I’m looking forward to playing with those big guys in the frontcourt. They’re all young, talented guys. I think we can grow together,’ Markkanen said. ‘And I can’t wait to learn from a player like Kevin Love. Just learn aspects of the game from him and the mentality of the game, how he approaches it. I’m looking forward to that as well.'”"

Granted, with Love, while he currently is not willing to entertain a buyout with the Cavs at this point, per a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, one could foresee talks eventually taking place maybe in-season. That’s with the Cleveland big man outlook.

In any case, circling back to Markkanen, it should be interesting to see how he meshes with this young Cavs core. Plus, at least for next season, I could see him working very well with fellow offseason trade acquisition Ricky Rubio in bench stretches.

And to drive it home, it’s clear that Markkanen is pumped for this next step for him. Hopefully things work out well for the 24-year-old and the Cavs; him staying healthy will be paramount, though.