The Utah Jazz haven’t ever committed to a path during the Lauri Markkanen era. Two years in a row they’ve started the season well only to backtrack and become sellers at the trade deadline. They have pursued high-level veterans like Jrue Holiday and Mikal Bridges through trades, but have failed to seal the deal. Now they are in a somewhat precarious position. Markkanen has one year and $18 million remaining on his contract. Utah has the cap space to renegotiate and extend him this offseason, but paying him the max means committing to a win-now approach that they thus far have waffled on.
It should, therefore, come as no surprise that opposing teams are trying to figure out what Utah is actually planning when it comes to Markkanen’s future. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, teams are being “aggressive” in this marketplace, but that it would take a “great, great deal” to pry him out of Utah.
This is, of course, par for the Danny Ainge course. Utah’s top basketball executive has a reputation for extracting historic prices in trades for veterans. He turned the aging Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in Boston into the picks that became Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. He pulled in an all-time draft haul on the Rudy Gobert trade, and when he moved Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland afterward, he got another deep package of picks along with Markkanen and Collin Sexton.
Further helping Ainge’s cause if he does decide to move Markkanen is the fact that Bridges just went for five first-round picks and one swap. While there were extenuating circumstances involved in that trade and Bridges is a far better defender than Markkanen, they are analogous in at least one respect: both Bridges and Markkanen have very low cap figures relative to their value. Bridges will make roughly $48 million in total over the next two seasons. Markkanen is owed only that $18 million figure for next year. Matching salary on big trades is harder than ever, thanks to the new CBA’s restrictive apron rules, but almost any team in the NBA can come up with the money needed to land Markkanen.
The Jazz aren’t operating as though a Markkanen trade is a necessity. They still have the draft assets to potentially find him a co-star elsewhere if the right deal presents itself. But sooner or later, the Jazz are going to have to pick a direction. It no longer makes sense for them to just hover around the No. 10 seed if they can put a winner around Markkanen. That’s great. If not? Imagine the portfolio of future picks they’d have at their disposal after trading Gobert, Mitchell and Markkanen.
If Markkanen is at all available, there are a number of teams that would make sense as suitors. The Oklahoma City Thunder have been linked to him in the past, and given their emphasis on shooting, he would be a great fit. The Houston Rockets are reportedly in the market for a star, and with the Suns players seemingly not available at the moment, Markkanen might be their best pivot. The Philadelphia 76ers are hoping to add a star at some point this offseason, and the advantage of a Markkanen trade for them is that his low cap figure would enable them to use their remaining cap space to sign a supporting cast for him, Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid.
But almost any team in the league with draft picks or young players to trade is theoretically in play for Markkanen if Utah decides to put him out there. He is one of the best players potentially out there right now, and that is going to inspire significant offers from around the league.
