This past NBA season, the Utah Jazz and Lauri Markkanen got a free pass on the seemingly endless trade rumors and chatter that constantly surround the pairing, thanks to the star’s newly-signed contract extension to not only provide him a major pay raise, but a trade restriction that would last up until the 2025 offseason.
However, with the NBA Finals on the horizon and the 2025 offseason now starting to get underway, right on cue, the Markkanen trade whispers have kicked off once again for those who don’t quite see the long-term vision between the Jazz All-Star talent on a young and rebuilding Utah roster.
The latest to pound the table for the Jazz to make a deal surrounding their star this summer comes from Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale, placing Markkanen among the top five players in the league on the “wrong team” alongside names like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, and Anthony Davis.
“Lauri Markkanen continues to look out of place on a Utah Jazz team that has yet to enter the middle stages of its rebuild. The awkwardness used to be endearing, when it was helping fuel his ascent into All-Star territory. It is now simply…weird,” Favale wrote. “The distance between the Jazz and a win-now window remains large, and the absence of other reliable centerpieces is starting to take a toll on Markkanen’s impact.”
“Despite his perimeter leanings, Markkanen is an elite play-finisher at heart,” Favale continued. “The Jazz don’t have the pecking order in place to put him in the most ideal role. Though this isn’t a ‘Trade him for anything’ situation, the optics of Markkanen’s contract are already starting to shift. His value isn’t what it was this time last year. And failing seismic changes to the roster around him before next season, it may only continue to tumble.”
Markkanen, despite inking a half-decade-long extension last summer, will likely always find his way into a few outlying trade conversations, or at least until the Jazz rise to a level of competition to put him in a more ideal and winning situation. That’s just the nature of the NBA, and to be rational, there are a few good reasons as to why a deal to ship him out would make the most sense.
Yet, it’s hard to see the Jazz finding a deal for Markkanen this summer, less than one calendar year after committing to him as a future cornerstone of the roster, and especially not if this front office can’t find the trade value they feel is reasonable for their star forward.
Things could obviously change over the course of the next few months of a hectic NBA offseason, whether that be Markkanen’s feelings on staying in Utah, or the Jazz wanting to blow up the roster even more. But, if all holds to form, don’t hold your breath on Markkanen getting shipped off anytime soon.
