MEXICO CITY — Lauri Markkanen’s role in urging Bulls players to show up for a scheduled practice Sunday after some initial talk of a boycott already has been reported.

For the first time, Markkanen addressed his thinking, which led to two hours of team meetings to hash out an emotional first week under new coach Jim Boylen.

“I wanted to have my opinion and let players know what I think,” Markkanen told the Tribune on Wednesday. “I think I can be one of the leaders of the team. That’s what I suggested. That’s how it went.”

Not all players were on the initial group text exchange. Multiple sources said Markkanen was and that his voice resonated immediately.

Later, when the text exchange spread to the entire team, Robin Lopez also urged attendance.

“I thought that was a more professional way to go about it,” Markkanen said. “I thought about other members of the staff. Like, they show up to work. Obviously, this isn’t the main point, but some of the staff lives an hour away and they come to work.

“I try to think how disrespectful that is to tell them that we wouldn’t show up.”

Asked how he felt about some teammates suggesting the idea, Markkanen paused.

“It was definitely new for me,” he said.

“It is what it is. It was an idea. We started talking and got it figured out as a team. We have to stick together. Obviously, we had a rough week. We all need to work together. And I think we will.”

Zach LaVine said talk of the potential boycott “got blown out of proportion.” LaVine, who was visibly frustrated after Saturday’s franchise-record 56-point loss to the Celtics, was a vocal leader in the meeting Sunday.

“We wanted to speak real with each other,” LaVine said. “We resolved some things, found eye-to-eye things.”