Arizona basketball: Lauri Markkanen officially signs with Chicago Bulls

The former Wildcat will earn roughly $20 million in his first four years in the NBA

Lauri Markkanen is officially a member of the Chicago Bulls.

The 7-footer from Finland inked his rookie contract Wednesday and will unofficially debut with Chicago on Saturday, July 8 in the team’s Las Vegas Summer League opener.

We’ve officially signed our first-round pick, @MarkkanenLauri!

Official Release: https://t.co/f2aIvONtKi http://pic.twitter.com/qLIEpM4WCo

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) July 5, 2017

Markkanen was selected seventh overall by the Bulls in the 2017 NBA Draft, and according to Hoops Rumors, will earn roughly $20 million in his first four years in the league:

Markkanen’s new deal, which will feature two guaranteed years followed by two team options, figures to pay him $3.822MM in year one, and about $20.39MM over the full four years, as our rookie scale chart shows. Those figures assume he signed for 120% of the rookie scale amount, which virtually every first-rounder does.

The Bulls acquired the rights to Markkanen from the Minnesota Timberwolves by trading away All-Star guard Jimmy Butler.

Markkanen is currently listed as the Bulls’ third-string power forward, but starting power forward Nikola Mirotic is a restricted free agent and may not return next season.

Markkanen is expected to add 3-point shooting to a Bulls team that ranked 25th in 3-point field goal percentage a season ago.

The 19-year-old averaged 15.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in his lone season with the Arizona Wildcats, shooting 42.3 percent from 3.

---

Follow Ryan Kelapire on Twitter at @RKelapire

from Arizona Desert Swarm - All Posts http://ift.tt/2tqQ3Qp
via IFTTT