On the latest Hoop Collective, Brian Windhorst was joined by his usual co-hosts: Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon. Bontemps and MacMahon had some interesting things to say about Lauri Markkanen and his potential trade market.
You can listen to what they say around the 7:00 mark, but here’s a paraphrasing of what was said.
Bontemps:
I’m very curious to see after the way last year went, which he did not play greaty, obviously the Jazz had intentions to be at the bottom of the standings… He is not seen in the same
light as he was coming off of that first season, under Will Hardy. I’m curious about him playing with the Finnish National Team; they got a chance to make a run in this tournament. I’m curious if that’s a springboard for him to come back with the Jazz and look like the player he was a couple of years ago. Because if he is, a. it’s obviously good for the Jazz to just have him playing like that again. And b. he becomes an interesting guy to watch in the trade market over the next year to see if this is the time to move on from him if he looks like an all-star and they’re trying to go in this youth direction.
MacMahon added:
But I think he has to play like that to restore his value in the trade market for that to be a conversation because of the contract he got. I mean, he got every single penny they could give him in a re-negotiation and extension. It is a big, big contract.
This is just more talk about the interest in Lauri Markkanen. Interestingly, they don’t say this is out of the question, but they talk more about what it will take for a trade to happen. It’s clear that in NBA circles, Markkanen is gettable. The question is for what amount.
Personally, I thought it would take time during the regular season to have a showcase period for a potential trade to occur, given the poor performance of last season. What I didn’t foresee was that Eurobasket could be the thing that rehabs Markkanen’s value before the season starts.
Like always, it’s not clear if a trade will actually happen, but it certainly is looking possible, and there may be a team or two wanting to make sure that Markkanen is at the all-star level of a few years ago. If he looks like that, a trade might be happening sooner than later.
