The Lauri Markkanen Trade Is Almost Here…

The Lauri Markkanen Trade Is Almost Here…

at this point in the NBA offseason you might be thinking that all the trades are over all the big moves have already happened and now we’re just going to wait around for the season and you’d be wrong because basically every single NBA offseason things start to pick back up in terms of Trades we have a little bit of a lull after the draft after free agency but this time of the year we almost always have some kind of big move and the reason for that is because we’re starting NBA Summer League all these NBA teams are descending on Vegas they’re all going to have conversations in person about players that they may or may not want to trade and that helps pick things up significantly summer league happens in July every year and it’s not uncommon to have big NBA trades in July August and September you can underestimate how important it is for these NBA teams to have just real actual conversations in person and the name right now the number one guy on the they are going to get traded next list is Lowry marinin now some of you might be wondering why would the Jazz want to trade away marinin he is an all-nba calber player he still pretty young still fits along the timeline of what Utah has going there in terms of talent and they’re going to be able to sign him to a new contract extension soon so there’s no real risk of him leaving well there’s one big reason Utah doesn’t have full control over their 2025 first round pick they owe it top 10 protected to the Oklahoma City Thunder and L marinan although he’s not you know one of the five best players in the league or anything he’s certainly capable as he’s shown over the last few seasons in Utah of raising the floor of this team above potentially being in the top 10 of the draft next year and if Utah ends up conveying that pick it is a complete disaster so they’re trying to be legitimately bad not to mention the fact that they’re going to be able to get really good value out of Marketing so the expectation is that this week as NBA Summer League is going on Danny a these other GMS are going to be there they’re going to be having conversations around what exactly it would take to get loow Markin out of Utah and there are two main teams that are getting thrown around as real possibilities for markting first and foremost are the Golden State Warriors a team that has been very active in trade discussions this offseason they tried to get Paul George and marinin seems to be pretty high on the list for them as well they view him as an ideal fit in the front Court alongside Draymond Green he provides them great spacing and as a nice kind of in between option for them in terms of someone that’s really good and is going to help Steph now but also will still be good in a few seasons when Steph either retires or just isn’t even remotely close to the same kind of guy in contrast to someone like Paul George that fits exactly on the Steph Curry timeline marinin in the warriors’s eyes might actually be a better fit because he is younger and in terms of trade packages things get pretty crazy for Golden State because the reports basically are that Jonathan kaminga has to be in the deal you got to keep in mind this is Danny a that you’re dealing with he’s going to ask for everything he possibly can and I find it hard to believe that he’s going to end up trading way Lowry Markin in and not get Jonathan kaminga in return and for Golden State they don’t want to give up kaminga I wouldn’t want to give up kaminga he’s extremely good but one of the reasons that they’re looking at making trades is because the way their roster constructed is a little bit iffy in terms of of floor spacing between kaminga Draymond a traditional Center Wiggins all these other guys like Steph’s a great shooter but marinin would fit better within the lineup they currently have than someone like kaminga would and so him being in the trade absolutely makes sense now outside of that the nice thing from marinin is that his contract isn’t that big so it wouldn’t be difficult for Golden State to be able to match salaries they could do cavon Looney they could do Moses Moody handful of different things and so essentially the structure would be kaminga other salaries some potentially with value someone like Moses Moody and then whatever draft compensation Utah wants to ask for in exchange that would be the maximum that I could see Golden State going up to would be kaminga moody and some picks potentially all the picks that golden state has available to trade because again marinin is very good some of you might think that he’s overrated some of you might not think that he’s that good he is a legitimate all NBA cower player one of the better scoring forwards that we have in the league and if it was that kind of structure where it’s kaminga and some picks having a lineup for Golden State of Steph paj jimsky Wiggins marinan and the Draymond of the five or you could even play marinin on the win you could play him at the three and then play a traditional five and then bring someone like Wiggins Off the Bench that really helps their starting lineup as a trade that I think golden state is very motivated to make but the other team that absolutely has to be mentioned here is the the San Antonio Spurs because they are always going to be involved anytime there is a player of markkanen’s caliber available on the trade market over the next couple of Seasons the San Antonio Spurs are going to be involved there’s already reports and rumors about how players around the league want to play with Victor wanyama they realize the potential that this guy has in the long term you have Greg papovich there you have some interesting young players there and San Antonio is just going to be involved it’s kind of like how Oklahoma City has been involved over the last couple of Seasons just because of the sheer number of assets that they have and the trajectory of their team they’re just going to continue to get mentioned and markting again similar to what’s happening with golden state is Kind of Perfect in terms of of his age and what he provides he’s good enough that he can already you know help San Antonio potentially push for 35 40 maybe even more than that wins this upcoming season and give them a little bit more of an immediate you know win now push alongside WBY but it’s not like he’s 30 32 years old where he’s going to decline if wemi continues to improve him and marinin should be at their relative PE at about the same time which again makes him an ideal Target for a team like San Antonio in similar to The Warrior situation there’s a player on the Spurs roster that it seems like would be essential to any market and trade and that would be Devon vasel Deon Vel is a extremely good fit in San Antonio as a wing Creator guy that can guard as well and just fits really well with their team but that’s also why Utah would want him and he’s not at the point yet in his career where he would be so good that he would you know push Utah over the top in terms of you you know getting 30 to 35 wins same thing with kaminga like these guys are not as good as marketing right now so they fit perfectly in this concept of let’s make sure we don’t give away our first round pick next year and I think Deon Vel almost has to be in the deal similar to the way kaminga almost has to be in the deal if you are uh Utah there are some other constructions that would work whether it be Kellin Johnson and a ton of picks but if San Antonio doesn’t want to give away any of their own picks which I would presume they would not want to they could certainly build a structure around Devon Vel and a handful of these other picks that they have from other teams maybe get some other pieces back from Utah as well to help them win and that would be the deal and essentially the decision-making process for San Antonio that they’re going through is does it make sense to get rid of someone like Devon Vel for a little bit more of a of a star caliber player in low marinin or does it make more sense to just wait and let those guys develop and selfishly as an NBA fan the concept of marinan and wmy together in the front court is awesome it’s a move that I absolutely want to see but I also don’t really want to see the Spurs get rid of Deon Vel either so it’s a very tricky situation for a team in San Antonio that is trying to be a little bit in between not being so good and trying to go all in right now but they they can’t be a 25 win team next season and I say all this to say that Utah is in a fantastic position with the exception of owing their pick top 10 protected to Oklahoma City in 2025 they are in an ideal spot here there are multiple bids for a player of lwi Markin and’s caliber that is very good they’re going to be able to get a ton of value in exchange for him and it just fits perfectly with what everybody needs each of these teams have a lot to offer San Antonio certainly has more and if it comes down to Danny a just wanting to get the most possible out of the deal the Spurs are in poll position to get Lowry Markin and if that is a decision that they make and I would anticipate that before the summer is over and certainly before the trade deadline next year Lowry Markin is on a different team the one main wrinkle to this is that he is extension eligible he’s underpaid right now and if he signs an extension with Utah this summer he cannot be traded again until or traded again he cannot be traded until the trade deadline in February so this will that will put a hard stop on any low market and trade possibilities if he signs an extension and of course if he ends up on a new team they would already have negotiated an extension to make sure they’re not losing him for nothing as well so a lot of moving pieces between all this but with Summer League coming up with the rumors that we’re getting around marketing with the trade packages possible for Golden State and San Antonio I truly think that is something that is going to happen here pretty soon

As 2024 NBA summer league arrives, rumors around the NBA suggest that the Lauri Markkanen trade from the Utah Jazz is happening soon.

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