Lauri Markkanen sign-and-trade: Cavaliers strike three-team deal that sends Larry Nance to Blazers, per report

After weeks of quietness in the NBA offseason, the silence was broken with a three-team trade that has Lauri Markkanen signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers in part of a three-way deal that will also send Cavaliers’ Larry Nance Jr. to the Portland Trail Blazers, while the Chicago Bulls will receive Derrick Jones Jr. and a protected first-round pick from Portland, as well as a future second-round pick from Cleveland, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

There’s a lot of moving parts to this piece, but the biggest draw of this deal is Markkanen finally landing with a team after spending weeks in a holding pattern on where he would play next. After a disappointing season with the Bulls last year, in which he was pushed to a bench role in favor or Nikola Vucevic, Markkanen’s days in Chicago were numbered. However, there was minimal interest in him from other teams around the league in signing him as a restricted free agent this summer. 

Now, though it appears he’s found his next home with the Cavaliers, where he’ll join a depth chart of forwards that already features Kevin Love and the 2021 No. 3 overall pick, Evan Mobley.

For Portland, getting in on this deal and landing a player like Nance, who can immediately be plugged in an provide on both ends of the floor in the frontcourt should be viewed as a positive move by a franchise that has been relatively quiet in the offseason this summer. Chicago also made out well in this deal by landing two future picks, and an athletic wing in Jones who can serve as a solid reserve off the bench.

CBS Sports will update this story as more information becomes available.