Tannen Maury / EPA / All Over Press

Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen had great seasons last year even though the Bulls as a team struggled; their production will ascend this year.

Two summers ago the Bulls acquired LaVine and Markkanen in exchange for Jimmy Butler in a delayed gratification plan focused on building a foundation for the Bulls future. Zach (age 24) and Lauri (age 22) are coming off the best seasons of their careers. Zach averaged a stellar 23.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists a game while Lauri averaged an impressive 18.8 points and 9 rebounds each outing. This year is their chance to show that they can be the best duo in the East because it has never been this wide open.

Initially, when considering current NBA duos, you think of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, Stephen Curry and D’Angelo Russell (excluding Klay Thompson due to injury), Russell Westbrook and James Harden, or Damian Lillard and C.J. Mccollum. Notice that these are all Western Conference teams. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are clearly the best duo in the East and arguably the best duo in the league but because KD potentially won’t play a game this season it leaves the window for the East wide open this year for duos.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some great duos such as Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid or Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond but both of these duos lack the offensive talent that Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen attain. Ben Simmons does not have a reliable jump shot and defenders sag and give him about five feet of space when he is outside of the paint. Andre Drummond is not seen as a dominant scoring threat on the floor. Drummond gets a majority of his points within the restricted zone, from the post and off of scrappy plays. Outside of that, Drummond is a liability outside of the paint with the ball in his hands and is a career 45% free-throw shooter which is terrible. Milwaukee had the best record in the league last year and are the obvious leaders of the Eastern Conference but they do not conform to the duo trend that has been sweeping the league since they play a unique team-oriented play that keeps everyone involved.

Next season will be an exceptional season for the Bulls duo for many reasons. Zach will become a much more efficient scorer. With his athleticism, three point sharpshooting, and his ability to run the point guard position, Zach is limitless offensively. Last year, he not only improved his scoring average from 16 points the season before to 23.7 points, but he also took better quality shots allowing him to get six free-throw attempts a game. With the Bulls making roster improvements over the offseason, expect Zach’s gameplay to improve along with that.

Lauri is a 7-foot freakish Finnish player that also has no offensive fears. Not only can he shoot three-pointers at a pretty accurate clip (36.1% which is pretty good for a seven-footer), he has the ability to finish at the rim with aggressiveness and isn’t afraid to put ball on the floor and isolate (another fear of most seven-footers). One category Lauri has not looked good in is field goal percentage. Despite improving to 18.8 points per game last season, his field goal percentage didn’t change much at 43% from the field, which is not thrilling compared to players his size. This upcoming season will be different because he will be entering his third season where he will be stronger and wiser. With a better team than last years, Lauri will be able to get easier baskets. He is also entering a season where he can get into a nice rhythm compared to the previous season where he missed a big chunk of the beginning of the season.

With the expected improvements from both Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen and the exposed holes in the east, if Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen can put up stat lines of 25 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 22 points and 10 rebounds respectively, they will very easily be the best offensive duos in the East in the 2019–2020 season. If they can conjure up wins along with these averages don’t be surprised to see both of these players in the 2020 All-Star Game, which ironically takes place in Chicago.