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For all intents and purposes, the Chicago Bulls, as many perceive, are tanking so whatever joy that should come out of their games until the regular season closes will come in the form of highlight plays instead of the anticipation of a win.
Rookie power forward Lauri Markkanen provided just that early in the Bulls' matchup with the Orlando Magic Friday night.
With the eight-minute mark passing, the Finnish sensation ran hard to the paint in transition. Cameron Payne recognized this and he didn't hesitate in rewarding his big man for the effort, feeding him with a nifty pass. The result was a thunderous slam over a hapless Nikola Vucevic.
Watch the video below.
Four minutes in and I'm already worried Markkanen is going to win this one for the Bulls pic.twitter.com/IEB4SV6hIG
— Steph Noh (@StephNoh) March 30, 2018
Markkanen has been in and out of the Bulls' active roster recently, perhaps for a purpose that the team can't explicitly admit unless they want to get on the nerve of the league office who had said that tanking teams won't go unscathed from their wrath.
It's understandable why teams would do such a thing, though. The upcoming draft is expected to be top-heavy and the 2019 iteration will debut the draft reform, giving the bottom-feeding teams fewer incentives. 2018 is their last chance to have as much control of their draft futures.
Going back to the Bulls, the outcome of the game didn't play well into the alleged tanking. They won over the Magic, 90-82, with Markkanen finishing the game with 13 points, eight rebounds, two steals, and a block. The home team was led by Aaron Gordon who registered 18 points and seven rebounds.
