San Antonio Spurs Receive: F Lauri Markkanen (via sign-and-trade), CHI 2024 1st Round Pick (Lottery-Protected)

Chicago Bulls Receive: G Lonnie Walker IV, SAS 2023 2nd Round Pick

The San Antonio Spurs going after Lauri Markkanen outright would make more sense than them looking to acquire him via a sign-and-trade, which we will talk about shortly, but this is definitely a scenario in which the Spurs could get the young big man. 

Lonnie Walker IV is an athletic shooting guard that San Antonio does like, but they do have a lot of talented young players all stacked upon each other at the same position with Devin Vassell, Derrick White and now Joshua Primo as well. Moving Walker in the final year of his contract could make sense for the Spurs, hence why they send him instead of anybody else. 

When talking about the Spurs in free agency, Lauri Markkanen is definitely a guy they have interest in, but they would probably want to try and sign him outright.

The only problem though is that he is currently a restricted free agent. This may not be the case for long though as the Bulls are interested in pursuing Lonzo Ball according to multiple reports. 

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If the Bulls do look to bring in Ball, then they will most definitely have to renounce their rights to Markkanen, thus making him an unrestricted free agent. This is probably the scenario we are looking at right now in terms of San Antonio going after Markkanen, but a sign-and-trade is also a plausible scenario. 

Now, let’s take a look at this sign-and-trade deal and see if this is a move that makes sense not only for the Chicago Bulls, but the San Antonio Spurs as well.