The 2017 Jimmy Butler trade suddenly is coming back to haunt the Bulls

Kris Dunn is now a reserve, while Lauri Markkanen is being taught the hard lesson of learning how to finish games from the bench. Yes, Zach LaVine is solid, but Butler’s skill set is arguably equal to all three ... and then some.

It was an interesting debate during the 2017-18 season.

The Bulls front office was straining its elbow in patting itself on the back, thrilled with the trade they had pulled off months earlier in jumpstarting the rebuild.

On the other side, there was the Timberwolves, having Jimmy Butler front and center in helping end a 13-year playoff drought.

Seemingly a win-win deal for both teams.

Fast forward to Saturday, and all that has transpired for each franchise since. The only clear-cut winner in that draft-night trade that linked the two organizations together?

One Jimmy Butler III.

The list of mistakes made by this Bulls front office in the last decade alone is long. The two most critical, however? Unable to learn how to co-exist with former coach Tom Thibodeau, and then never understanding the vision Butler had for the organization.

Butler wanted to stay a Bull, as well as help build a roster that he felt could make a deep playoff run. The Bulls didn’t want to pay the high cost of keeping the guard/forward, and absolutely didn’t want to hand off some of their power to a player.

In their eyes, landing Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn, and then the draft rights that brought them Lauri Markkanen, would more than compensate for Butler’s talent.

They couldn’t have been more wrong.

Dunn is a bench player who doesn’t have much of a future with the Bulls when his current rookie deal expires. LaVine can score 20 in his sleep, but still has defensive issues. And then there’s Markkanen, who has been benched in crunch-time two straight games by coach Jim Boylen, with Thaddeus Young getting the closing minutes.

“We have established since day one with this group, it’s something I wanted to prepare for this summer that we’re going to finish games with guys that we need to finish games with, whether you’re a starter or a bench guy or whatever,’’ Boylen said of the Markkanen-Young decision. “And you play those minutes. And one night it will be your opportunity and maybe the next night it will be somebody else’s opportunity. It’s not a dilemma for me if you want to have a good team.’’

Once again, real talk from the coach.

But here’s the real kick in the face that the Bulls front office can no longer ignore: Dunn is a defensive specialist they can put on their best wing player. He does little more. LaVine is a scorer first, everything else second. Markkanen spaces the floor and an outside threat, but is suddenly unusable down the stretch.

The three players combined can’t match the overall package that Butler provided on both ends of the floor.

Heck, Butler even displays the same kind of real talk in the locker room that the organization is now asking of Boylen.

It’s no coincidence that the last three different Butler-led teams have made the playoffs three seasons straight, and while the 2019-20 campaign is just underway, Miami looks like the number will jump up to four.

Meanwhile, unless the Bulls can fix Markkanen and get the 7-footer heading back toward a superstar trajectory, this rebuild is going nowhere.

The entire foundation of it was built on LaVine and Markkanen. One pillar falls, it all falls.

“He’s watching what’s going on and maybe in the moments before he comes out – whoever it is – they raise their energy level, raise their effort level, raise their awareness, raise their focus,’’ Boylen said, in hoping that Markkanen learns from the last two games. “Whatever that moment is, that teachable moment.

“It was not punishment to have him sit there. We are trying to develop and win. And it’s very difficult, but that’s what we’re trying to do.’’