(WEEI) "Interested in" season continues rolling along in the NBA, and the latest player the Celtics are being linked to is Bulls big man Lauri Markkanen, who's a restricted free agent.
Boston is one of four teams that have shown interest in the 24-year-old Markkanen, along with Dallas, New Orleans and Minnesota, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.
How the Celtics would pull off such a move is where it gets complicated. They won't be able to sign Markkanen outright because they don't have the money to offer more than the Bulls would be willing or able to match. So the path for Markkanen to land in Boston would have to be in a sign-and-trade, but that would likely require the Celtics to both move out matching salary and send draft-pick compensation to the Bulls.
With Markkanen expected to get around $15 million annually, according to Fischer, such a move could hard-cap the Celtics for this season and limit their financial flexibility moving forward. That would seemingly run counter to everything else they've done this offseason.
Markkanen, a 7-foot stretch power forward, had his most efficient shooting season in 2020-'21 (he shot 58.2% on twos and 40.2% on threes), but he also posted career-low marks in minutes per game (25.8), points per game (13.6) and rebounds per game (5.3). He has battled injuries throughout his four-year NBA career, including missing 21 games last season.
Markkanen was somewhat surprisingly not included in the Bulls' sign-and-trade to get wing DeMar DeRozan from the Spurs, and he told media in his native Finland that he'd like a fresh start outside of Chicago.
Given the complications for any suitor to acquire Markkanen, Fischer reports that "there's a belief among many league personnel" that Markkanen will be forced to settle for a one-year, $9-million qualifying offer that would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent next year.
So, file this one under "unlikely" for the Celtics for now, but perhaps they'll surprise us.