Lauri Markkanen’s name has floated around in the trade market for the last two seasons. The most recent one coming from the Golden State Warriors having interest in trading for him. The Utah Jazz have missed the playoffs in the last two years after they traded away Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. However, the Utah Jazz have refused to enter a full-on rebuild by trading away Markkanen, or have failed to compete with making no moves.
As the 2024 offseason is close to rapping up, the only thing Utah has done is add players like Cody Willams in the draft. Outside of that Utah has done nothing to improve this roster. Once again we are in an offseason waiting to see if Utah will finally pull the trigger and trade away Lauri Markkanen or will they continue refusing to trade him. In addition to that, this time around Utah might be in a no-win situation with whatever they choose to do with Markkanen.
Are The Utah Jazz in a No-Win Situation With Lauri Markkanen?
Lauri Markkanen’s Trade Value
When the Jazz acquired Markkanen in the trade of Donovan Mitchell back in 2022. Utah was entering a rebuild. However, in that same year, they played a lot better than most people had thought. Mostly due to the rise in play from Markkanen that landed him in the All-Star game for the first time. Furthermore, Markkanen was named the league’s Most Improved Player that season. As a result, his trade value after that season was at an all-time high. However, with Markkanen still being relatively young, Utah wanted to try and build around Markkanen.
Fast-forward to now, Utah has failed to build a contender around Lauri Markkanen. Now with just one year left on his contract, his trade value is not as high as it once was. Teams were willing to give up multiple first-round picks and players after he made the All-Star game. Knowing that if they were able to land him, they would get two years with him before having to pay him. However, with just one year left teams aren’t going to be willing to trade multiple first-round picks to get him knowing they will have to give him an extension. Because of this, Utah has lost all of its leverage in negotiations trades for Markkanen.
NBA Purgatory
In the two years that Lauri Markkanen has been in Utah. They have floated around in this purgatory that teams never want to be in. That is not being good enough to try and compete while not being bad enough for a top pick in the draft. Since they have refused to trade away Markkanen. They have missed out on possibly being able to draft guys like Victor Wembanyama, Brandon Miller, or any of the top picks in this year’s draft to kick-start their rebuild.
To go along with that, they also haven’t done anything to improve this roster and try to compete with Markkanen. If they re-sign Markkanen to an extension it could be more years of being in this purgatory stage. Since the roster they have now is nowhere near a championship-level team, and there is no guarantee’s they can build a championship-level team in Markkanen’s prime. However on the flip side, if they trade away Markkanen, they are back to rebuilding. Which would push competing for a championship even further away. No matter what they do, they are still a couple of years away from competing in this tough Western Conference.
Losing Lauri Markkanen for nothing
Finally, which is the worst-case scenario for the Utah Jazz is losing Markkanen for nothing. With just one year left on his deal if they are unable to re-sign him. He could walk for nothing. Also, it is seemingly unlikely a team will trade for him this summer unless it happens right before training camp or in the first part of the season. Similar to the James Harden Clippers trade. There is no guarantee they will be able to trade him at the deadline and if that happens they will lose Markkanen for nothing. Something the Utah Jazz don’t want to happen.
The longer this situation with Markkanen lasts, the worse situation Utah is going to be in. Utah should think about trading him away sooner rather than later. So they can at least get something from him and start the rebuild. By doing this it will allow them to be in the running this year to draft a prospect like Cooper Flagg. Whatever happens, it will be interesting what Utah decides to do with Lauri Markkanen in the coming weeks.
