Lauri Markkanen is going to go into the winter as arguably the hottest trade target for all contending teams. He’s on an affordable $17 million a year for two seasons and is entering his prime on a Utah Jazz team that’s firmly rebuilding. Instead of possibly losing him in the 2025 offseason, Jazz can capitalize off Markkanen playing the best basketball of his career to get a monster haul in return for him.
Almost any team in the NBA could find a financial way to make the deal work, so whichever team snags him will need to throw more picks at the Jazz than anyone else. No team in the NBA is better equipped to send more picks than anyone else than the Oklahoma City Thunder. The No. 2 seed in the West has more draft assets that they can use, and finally, a deal that could be a great use of their assets has emerged.
Trade Details
Utah Jazz Receive: Josh Giddey, Davis Bertans, 2024 First-Round Pick (HOU), 2025 First-Round Pick (OKC), 2027 First-Round Pick (DEN), 2027 First-Round Pick (OKC)
Oklahoma City Thunder Receive: Lauri Markkanen
With reports already claiming the Thunder are interested in acquiring the Finnish scorer, they’re well-positioned to beat even the best offers that come in for Lauri.
Utah Jazz Walk Off As Winners In One Of The Most Lucrative Trades Ever
The Utah Jazz overachieved last season by being in the play-in hunt till February when they decided to start fully tanking. It seems the franchise hasn’t been able to shake that habit, as they’ve started the season 9-17. Drafting Taylor Hendrick and trading for John Collins in Markkanen’s position hasn’t helped, as the team is overloaded on frontcourt prospects with minimal elite guard play on the roster. Collin Sexton is a bonafide bucket-getter, but the lack of playmaking is hurting Utah, who are bottom five in half-court offense.
This trade would net them Josh Giddey, who may need a change of scenery after his recent troubles in Oklahoma with an alleged relationship with a minor. He’s had a tough season so far, averaging 11.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 4.4 assists, but is still just 21 years old and has shown the capability of being a nightly triple-double threat. He can flourish as the primary guard in a system as compared to playing off Shai Gilgeoius-Alexander.
Markkanen was one of the many pieces Utah received in the Donovan Mitchell trade. Trading him away after a season-and-a-half for four additional first-round picks and a former lottery pick point guard with high potential would give them a net value even they wouldn’t have expected when they hit rebuild. Acquiring Walker Kessler as one of the pieces in the Rudy Gobert trade with the Timberwolves further reinforces the sensational job they’ve done in maximizing trade value.
The OKC Thunder Become The Biggest Threat In The West
The Thunder are the No. 2 seed in the West right now because Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is an MVP-caliber player and Chet Holmgren may be one of the most polished win-now rookies the league has seen in years. Even with Josh Giddey struggling and inconsistency over who will start alongside Jalen Williams in the frontcourt, the Thunder are looking scary. Making a deal to acquire Markkanen will give them the wing scoring they need and give Shai arguably the most complementary offensive No. 2 option he could ask for.
Markkanen is averaging 23.4 points and 8.4 rebounds this season, with an overall true shooting of 63.0%. He can go get a bucket when needed as well as flow seamlessly into a team’s offense. Markkanen fills a hole along the frontline and gives the Thunder arguably one of the most balanced starting fives in the NBA. With Luguentz Dort and Shai creating a defensively potent backcourt, Markkanen can fill in the scoring gaps whenever needed to vault the Thunder into contention.
The Thunder could stand pat and still build toward contention, but they have way too many assets that they can’t bring along to the future. These picks won’t be used to only draft and the Thunder can package some of these into the perfect trade to acquire Lauri and begin their window of contention after three years of tanking.
Setting Two Franchises On The Right Track
The Thunder and Jazz may both be the most pick-rich teams in the NBA, but they’re headed in opposite directions. The Thunder look motivated to be a top-four seed in the NBA this season and begin their path to contention. They could do it with their existing roster but adding Markkanen makes them more lethal and arguably the only team that could rival the strength of the Denver Nuggets. Even if they don’t succeed in Year 1, Lauri is just 27 years old and has years to grow alongside this core.
The Jazz haven’t been able to reinforce their guard youth in recent drafts, requiring a point guard to give the team some cohesion through their rebuilding years. Giddey may not be the perfect long-term fit, but it’s a start given the flashes of excellence he’s shown in his first two seasons. Along with that, they open up a frontcourt position with Markkanen leaving to possibly give the No. 8 pick in the 2023 Draft Taylor Hendricks some minutes alongside John Collins.
The pick-exchange would make the Jazz sit alone as the team with considerably more picks than everyone else in the NBA. Given what Danny Ainge built in Boston by using other team’s picks to draft their championship core, he’ll relish the opportunity to achieve similar things in Utah.
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