Bulls take another hit in frontcourt with Lauri Markkanen injury

Lauri Markkanen was shocked. Coach Jim Boylen was “heartbroken.”

But no one summed up Friday’s news better than veteran forward Thaddeus Young.

Asked about his initial reaction to the Bulls’ announcement that Markkanen could be sidelined up to six weeks because of a stress reaction in his right hip, Young paused and said, “My first thing was like, ‘[Crap], when it rains it pours, right?’ ”

Grab an umbrella.

With big man Wendell Carter Jr. out with a sprained right ankle, rookie forward Daniel Gafford dealing with a dislocated right thumb and forward Otto Porter Jr. sidelined with a fractured left foot after playing just nine games this season, the front court was already thin. Like, “giving minutes to Cristiano Felicio” thin.

With Markkanen out of the picture, the Bulls will have to rely on mix-and-match up front. Young called for a “next man up” mentality’’ from the depleted roster.

“It’s an unfortunate situation, but we have to treat it as a [case] where I have to step up and fill some of the things [Markkanen] does on the court for us,” Young said. “Go out there and continue to try and lead the guys and get as many wins as possible through this course of time. It’s just an unfortunate situation, for not just him but our team as a whole. It’s a big blow to what we do, big blow to how our offense has been moving and operating.”

Markkanen was having trouble getting acclimated to the Bulls’ new offense this season, sitting on career lows with his scoring (15 points per game) and rebounding (6.5 per game). But the hope was that he was finally making the adjustment.

When his pelvis area started bothering him about 10 days ago, he didn’t think much of it. He was caught off guard when the MRI exam came back as it did and team doctors told him they thought the best path would be to shut it down for the next month to six weeks, get another MRI and then revisit the treatment plan.

Markannen said he tried talking doctors into letting him play.

“I mean, I was shooting my shots to try to maybe find a reason why the MRI showed what it showed,’’ he said. “Just, I really wanted to play, but at the same time, I had to take a step back and think what’s actually smart.”

The concern is that a stress reaction could get worse and turn into a fracture — which would be a massive setback for a 22-year-old who’s considered one of the pillars of the Bulls’ rebuild.

Complicating matters, the Bulls could be looking to make a long-term financial commitment to Markkanen, whom they drafted No. 7 overall in 2017, and they might have to consider the possibility of long-term damage.

Markkanen wasn’t looking that far into the future yet.

“I haven’t had enough time to think about all that,” he said. “I just got the news a little while ago.”

Boylen also didn’t want to dwell on what the injury might mean for the rebuild or the immediate future.

“I’d be dishonest if I didn’t say it’s frustrating for all of us,” Boylen said. “For [vice president of basketball operations] John [Paxson], for [owners] Jerry and Michael [Reinsdorf], it’s frustrating. But, you know, it’s spilt milk, man. We’ve got to move on, and we’ve got to make the guys we can better, and we hope the guys that can get back soon get back soon.

“We’re not going to wallow in this. We’ve got to move forward. And we will.” V