From his recent piece on DeRozan landing with the Kings, relevant blurb:
The Kings went hard after the Utah Jazz’s Lauri Markkanen earlier in the week, protecting Keegan Murray in the discussions but putting on the table what they believe was a substantial enough picks-based offer, team sources said. But they put a deadline to their side of the deal, needing an answer quickly considering the urgency of the dissolving market.
Utah didn’t meet it. There’s growing skepticism leaguewide that Jazz executive Danny Ainge will actually move on any Markkanen deal. So the Kings pivoted quickly to DeRozan, getting wind he’d actually have interest and then hitting the gas pedal.
by BobRoss4Life
27 Comments
That sucks, but Ainge is impossible to get deals with done it seems, so it’s not a shock.
Kings did a “picks-based offer.”
[Kings’ future picks](https://www.prosportstransactions.com/basketball/DraftTrades/Future/Kings.htm). They technically still have all their 1sts, but their 2025 is top 12 protected. Likely conveys this year, but those protections run through 2026, so I think the Stepien rule means the first 1st they can outright move is 2028?
Assume they’d have tried working with the Hawks to remove protections, but at the moment, it looks like the Kings can only do 2 firsts max: 2028 (or 2029) and 2030 (or 2031).
Can still do swaps, ended up giving the Spurs an unprotected 2031 swap to absorb Barnes. Also have a decent amount of 2nds. But two 1s for Lauri ain’t much, especially when Fox is only 26 and Sabonis 28.
Add in the young players they can offer, with Keegan not being included and Devin Carter getting surgery (need to wait 30 days after signing him anyways), they basically only have Keon Ellis, Colby Jones, and Kessler Edwards. Add in Huerter at 25 being the main salary filler.
e: If that’s the kind of offer the Jazz are getting for Lauri’s expiring, I do not blame them for prioritizing an extension and tabling talks until the deadline.
Until he extends or the warriors make a different trade, this saga will last. Doesn’t mean we’ll get him by any means. Just means this is a week-by-week thing.
Edit: Gonna add some additional food for thought here. The deadline for Lauri to extend with the Jazz is August 6th. This is not a situation like PG where the opt-in deadline was within days of trade rumors coming out. That situation moved quickly because that deadline created urgency. In the case of Lauri, Danny Ainge has more time to try and drive up interest. He’s a shrewd negotiator who wants to get everything he possibly can out of his assets. Rather than accept the first offer he gets, he’s gonna let this play out longer to see if a team gets desperate and offers more, whether that be Golden State offering more young players or San Antonio offering the Hawks 2025 1st round pick which has potential to net Cooper Flagg.
I’d imagine, he also hoped that the Kings would potentially put up Keegan, but the Kings elected to pivot because they had more urgency to get a Demar sign and trade done (which they likely couldn’t have done if they waited for Lauri). The warriors have already made their rotation player moves, meaning they’re in a position to wait it out if they choose. Doesn’t mean they will, but that seems to be the logic at the moment.
In the end, no one knows what’ll happen yet. Lauri could stay with the Jazz, could be traded to us, to the Spurs, or maybe some other team swoops in. The point is that we need to realize that we probably won’t get that answer until summer league at the earliest.
I wonder how long we hold out or if we too turn our eyes to someone else
Classic Ainge blueballing
to be expected. ainge aint tradin with anybody unless hes fleecin them lol
How it goes. Trade would have been fun but it’s really difficult to trade with Ainge. Oh well, LFG
at this point it’s probably time to move off him . lauri would be a great fit for the warriors but it’s CLEAR they don’t want to trade him . ainge just playing around at this point
At this point any time Ainge is involved just hang up the phone lol.
This sucks but given that we rarely do trades at the trade deadline, that means that our FO should be looking for other options. Seems like the only plausible option for us is Ingram and LaVine, and Ingram doesn’t fit with us because of spacing. If we can extort two first-round picks for taking Lavine’s fat contract, I wouldn’t be mad at all.
I mean if Ainge is wants to sit on Lauri and then be a 11 seed team. Not enough to draft well and not good enough to make playoff money, then he can sit there and do that for another 3 years. We can look elsewhere.
Didn’t the warriors just make a significant offer for him a couple days ago?
womp womp
Well yeah, it would’ve happened by now, you don’t leave offers outstanding indefinitely, especially substantial offers
Good. Then let him walk next year and you get nothing for him on a 20 win team. Smd ainge
And there’s growing certainty leaguewide that Danny Ainge is an asshole.
ok Utah jazz can rot then 🤣🤣🤣 trash ass franchise
Omg I’m shocked. Taken aback even
Fuck him then. Move on and just hope we develop the young players further
I really don’t like that man 😩
Because the warriors offer sucks for a player of Lauri’s caliber. Danny doesn’t have to trade him he wants to stay in Utah. If you want him you have to pay up
Bummer… Lauri really would be the icing on our cake. If we end up with BI, idk how I feel about that fit/finish…
well the good thing about all this is there’s no longer any reason to check the sub every hour
So if your the Jazz, and the offer is: Moses Moody,
Gui Santos,
Gary Payton,
2026 Warriors unprotected Pick,
2028 Warriors unprotected pick,
2030 Warriors 1st round pick (if pick falls 3-19) turns into a second if it doesn’t convey basically a top 2 protection for Warriors,
Swap rights in 2027,
Swap rights in 2029,
Swap rights in 2031 top 3 protected,
For
Lauri Markennen
Basically if your the Jazz, you are hoping Steph ages rapidly, Lauri after the year leaves, and kuminga doesn’t improve. You also actively get worse and hopefully get a top 5 pick in this draft.
So what offers are the jazz going to get better than that? And by the time the jazz can get good, Lauri will be 31 or 32. So I guess you can extend him, and basically trade him next off season.
i mean we all saw this coming right??
Classic ainge holding his assets too long and blowing it.
What good is Markkanen gonna do the next 4 years in Utah?
With how bad half the east is, you’re gonna have to sit him all season to ensure you keep your pick.
Honestly wouldn’t mind going for a combo of Lavine and Brook Lopez. Bucks asking price for Lopez was a first rounder and you can probably get one for Lavine. This way we get a rim protecting big with a decent 3 ball and an actual second option.