“I think it’s clear that Lauri Markkanen is a pretty good player. We love him. We’d like to have him around.”
“I think that our objective is to find a player or two and we’re ready to roll. We’re ready to go big game hunting, and that hasn’t happened in the last two years.”
That was Utah Jazz CEO Danny Ainge after the NBA season ended, talking about the franchise’s offseason plans — owner Ryan Smith wanted to be aggressive, not rebuild. So Ainge tried to go big game hunting. The problem? There wasn’t much game to be had — Paul George was the only true free agent game-changer likely to switch teams (LeBron James was never leaving Los Angeles, and after that, it was James Harden or OG Anunoby or DeMar DeRozan). Ainge reportedly tried to trade for Mikal Bridges from Brooklyn, hoping that having him and Markkanen on the roster would tempt George to come to Salt Lake City, but Bridges was traded to the Knicks, then George eventually chose the 76ers.
That’s when teams started calling Ainge about Markkanen (because they looked at the market and realized the Finnish big man was better than anyone else available). Golden State was particularly aggressive. Ainge at least listened, and with it considered a pivot — Utah can’t talk contract extension with Markkanen until Aug. 6, so see if anyone makes a godfather offer he can’t refuse between now and then. Then the Jazz could turn to tanking and rebuilding with two stacked drafts coming up (Utah owes its 2025 first-round pick to Oklahoma City but that is top-10 protected, if the Jazz have one of the five worst records in the league, they will retain their pick; if it doesn’t convey in 2025 the pick is top-eight protected in 2026).
Rumors have been flying around, but how close are the Jazz to trading Markkanen?
Depends on who you ask. NBC Sports spoke to multiple sources and heard a different answer from each one, although things largely fell into two general camps.
One can be summed up by well-connected Utah beat writer Tony Jones of The Athletic, who appeared on Sacramento Sports Talk Radio and said that the Warriors, Kings and Spurs all have “substantial offers on the table” to trade for Markkanen.
The other camp follows what Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer said on the No Cap podcast with the always wise Dan DeVine:
“The Sacramento Kings, to my knowledge, earlier this week, we’re close to a deal… Utah prefers to keep Lauri and renegotiate and extended [his contract], they can’t do that though until Aug. 6. So why not spend the next month fielding offers? Utah is conducting their business with a 10% chance they’re going to move him, but you’re telling me there’s a chance.”
This isn’t just an Ainge decision, this is an ownership call. Trading a beloved star — Jazz fans have taken to Markkanen and he reportedly likes it there — would be a major pivot. It also could be the right move heading into drafts with franchise-changing players at the top (it’s not just Cooper Flagg, but he’s at the top of the list).
This is Ainge — he’s not making this trade without a massive haul coming back his way (never forget this guy made the Rudy Gobert/Donovan Mitchell trades). What the Knicks got for Bridges is the best comparison: Four unprotected first-round picks, one lightly protected first-round pick (five first-round picks total), a pick swap, a second-round pick and matching salary in Bojan Bogdanovic.
We could see a trade if a team offers five good first-round picks for Markkanen. If not, the Jazz extend him in August, then if things change trade him next offseason (with the flattened lottery odds of recent years there’s also no reason to go ultra-deep into the tank, just having one of the five or six worst records gives a team a legit chance to move up, and that can happen with good players on the roster).
Markkanen remains a name to watch, as do Brandon Ingram (teams would prefer Markkanen but would consider Ingram, who is available) and DeRozan (a sign-and-trade is now most likely how he changes teams this summer). But nothing is set in stone.
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