There should be less pressure on Cavs’ Lauri Markkanen next year

This season was one with ups and downs for Lauri Markkanen in his first year with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Markkanen was acquired via sign-and-trade from the Chicago Bulls last offseason, and was inked to a four-year, $67.5 million deal, albeit with the last season of that deal guaranteed for $6 million.

It was a sizeable investment in Markkanen, either way, and there were inconsistencies for him.

Now coming into last season, I didn’t anticipate we’d see Markkanen getting off to a fast start, and it’s safe to say he didn’t. He was adjusting to a new role on the offensive end, though, and was playing his share of minutes with two other bigs in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, and offensively, Markkanen was playing more so as a wing.

Granted Markkanen has historically been a player that’s a stretch forward, and has been more perimeter-laiden, regardless of the formal positional outlook.

With the Cavaliers, anyhow, he took time to get going, then did have some nice games, then had a COVID-19 health and safety protocols absence. And then he had more streakiness prior to a high ankle sprain that caused him to miss the last 11 games going into the All-Star break.

He would fortunately recover, for the most part it appeared, and was at least a bright spot for the team post-All-Star. In that stretch, he had 16.7 points per contest and connected on 38.1 percent of his three-point attempts, which was nice to see.

But on the year, Markkanen was fairly hot and cold, and had 14.8 points per outing, and shot 35.8 percent from three, to go with 5.7 rebounds per outing. Coming into last season, there also seemed to be a lot of pressure on him, and he appeared to be pressing a bit early on.

As he became more comfortable, however, and found ways to get to his spots more, and mixed in ways to find looks off cuts, he looked much more in-rhythm. Next season, too, I personally just think that he might be more freed up, per se, with less pressure heading in, and could hit the ground running.

There should be less pressure on Markkanen, with him hopefully being more settled in with the Cavs.

I understand that it’s a fair question as to whether or not Markkanen can regularly be a de facto 3 moving forward for extended stretches with the Cavaliers. There were mixed results this first season, and as we noted, it took him time to get his footing in the offense, and defensively, there’s still times where he looks out of sorts on-ball.

Also, his post-All-Star break play featured him more at the 4, as Jarrett Allen being out for most of that stretch until Cleveland’s second play-in game versus the Atlanta Hawks (fractured finger) led to more of that from Markkanen.

All of that being said, prior to Markkanen’s ankle sprain, he did seem to be hitting his stride with the Wine and Gold in January, and as the season progressed, I thought he was looking much more in-rhythm. So with that in mind, I believe there will be less pressure on him, and he could definitely feel more freed up at the outset of next season.

I’m not suggesting there won’t be any at all, considering the teams’ investment in him last offseason, and other guys, such as Dean Wade, Lamar Stevens, Cedi Osman, if he’s around, and Isaac Okoro will be involved. And the Cavaliers could very well select a wing/forward in next month’s draft, one would think, too.

Even still, while I’m not suggesting Markkanen is necessarily a complete lock to start again next season, I’d fully expect that to play out, as when the group was healthy, the tall-ball lineup did help Cleveland’s defense for stretches. Their chemistry next season should be better there and they should work better off one another on the other end, and Markkanen’s with Darius Garland on offense, for example, should be.

Also, having a driving presence like Collin Sexton, in the event he’s back, which would seem likely, could help Markkanen to some degree, and/or Caris LeVert. I’d imagine Cleveland looks to address the backup point guard, also, for what it’s worth.

Anyways, to me, this next season, I would think that coming in, Markkanen should have a greater sense of clarity for his role, and I believe there should be less pressure on him heading in this go-round, with more familiarity with the team.

Last season, he closed well, and he could carry that momentum forward.