Patience still key, but getting Lauri Markkanen back on the floor ‘exciting for everybody'

Share

Sixty days passed between contact practices for Lauri Markkanen. And now that he’s fully been cleared after two months of rehab on his sprained right elbow, the key for the 21-year-old forward is, ironically, patience.

Markkanen was back in action at the Advocate Center on Tuesday, donning a black shooting sleeve with elbow padding as he prepared for his first 5 on 5 action since Sept. 28, when he injured the elbow reaching in a scrum for a loose ball. He admitted he’s “really excited” and that the elbow “feels pretty good,” but there are still hurdles that need to be cleared before No. 24 takes the floor.

“I think we’ll probably have to slow him down a little, to be honest with you,” Fred Hoiberg said. “To be able to go out there and hopefully complete a full practice and get him on the road to getting back on the floor is exciting for everybody."

It’s the next step after he successfully rehabbed the elbow, completed all his strength and conditioning and made it through both non-contact portions of practice last week and a 2 on 2 scrimmage on Sunday.

But it isn’t the final step.

Markkanen will go through Tuesday’s practice, travel with the team to Milwaukee and get another individual workout in Wednesday and practice again Thursday. Fred Hoiberg said Markkanen will need “at least a week” before the team considers getting him back in for live game action.

Markkanen said there isn’t a specific target date for his return, but that timeline would put him somewhere around the Dec. 4 game against Indiana and the Dec. 7 game against Oklahoma City.

Markkanen has only been able to shoot 3-pointers for a few weeks, and he’s still working his way back to his regular mechanics because his range of motion was limited while extending his right elbow on jump shots.

All the work he’s done up to this point, he said, can’t replicate what he’ll experience in live 5-on-5 settings in practice.

“Just trying to get my wind back now because obviously no matter how much I do conditioning, games are different,” Markkanen said. “Hopefully it doesn’t take long.”

He admitted he’s lost a few pounds from the muscle he put on during the offseason, and his right arm still feels weaker than his left. He’s come to understand the difference between good pain (soreness) and bad pain, and that despite his activity in live practice he remains day-to-day.

“I think we all have to have some patience throughout this process as he works himself back after missing as much time as he has,” Hoiberg said.

The Bulls are hoping it’s sooner than later. They’re now 5-16 after dropping a 108-107 contest to the San Antonio Spurs on Monday, and they entered Tuesday with the league’s a league-worst 101.0 offensive rating; only the 4-15 Suns and 4-16 Hawks have worse net ratings.

Markkanen was able to run through the scripted offense during non-contact practices, though he hasn’t yet talked with the coaching staff about how exactly he’ll be implemented into the offense. But they certainly need him.

Zach LaVine is second in the NBA in usage rate and third in field goal attempts per game, and neither Jabari Parker nor Wendell Carter Jr. have stepped up as a consistent second scorer. He’ll be a sight for sore eyes on a Bulls offense in desperate need of someone to take some of the burden off LaVine, whose efficiency has dipped significantly in November.

And Kris Dunn and Bobby Portis may not be far behind. Both successfully went through individual workouts before Monday’s game and were active in the non-contact portions of practice on Tuesday. The hope is they’ll follow a similar path to Markkanen’s rehab as both recover from sprained MCLs suffered two days apart from each other.

And while that may not change the fortunes of another Lottery-bound season, there’s a sliver of optimism creeping in with the Bulls about to get three key pieces back as they begin the next chapter of their rebuild.

“There is an excitement,” Hoiberg said. “You have players coming back into the fold…and hopefully they keep progressing.”

Contact Us