DALLAS — Lauri Markkanen was dribbling a basketball, laughing and joking after the Monday morning shootaround, but that doesn’t mean he’s playing.
The Bulls forward did not participate in the walk-through, but did have a plan in place to get his sprained left ankle more treatment throughout the day, and then go through warm-ups before the game to test it.
“I feel better,’’ Markkanen said. “Taking time with that 36 hours or whatever it is, like I couldn’t really walk, so it feels pretty good.
“I mean I’m going to warm up and see how it feels, but I mean I hope I can play.’’
Boston’s Marcus Smart fell on Markkanen during Saturday’s loss to the Celtics, and it initially looked — and according to Markkanen, felt — worse than it ended up being.
“Just a freak accident, just a basketball play,’’ Markkanen said. “It felt bad when I fell down and then tried to stand up. I felt like it could have been way worse. I mean a freak accident, you can’t really do anything about it.
“But once I got up and started walking with it, already feeling like it loosened up a little bit, I didn’t get too down because it got better. I mean I felt a little bit better right after I started walking.’’
