Another day, another mention of Lauri Markkanen and the trade market. According to Marc Stein in his latest Stein Line, there will be trade calls coming.
From Stein:
Markkanen now has three 40-point games this
summer if you factor in the two he posted during Finland’s warmup campaign. By month’s end he’ll be back in Salt Lake City with a team that went 17-65 last season and might not be any better this season. Is this what Markkanen signed up for when he inked a five-year contract extension with the Jazz worth nearly $240 million in August 2024? The 7-footer is entering his ninth NBA season and has still yet to play in a single playoff game. Count on Utah’s phones ringing often between now and February with trade interest in The Finnisher.
That question about what Markkanen expects is one of the biggest questions, besides whether the Jazz just want to trade him for the team goals. That’s really what this all comes down to, are Markkanen’s personal goals as a player to make the playoffs and win games contradict the goals of the Jazz, who are building and developing their youth.
There is a world where both parties can still coexist this season, but there are a lot of variables that will cause a lot of strain. Utah’s two seasons post the Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert trades were filled with a lot of co-existing between differing goals and timelines. Utah can’t afford to walk the line and get burned again in the lottery this year. We’ll see what the Jazz do this offseason, but it’s certainly going to be fascinating to see what might be coming.
