Ahead of this year's NBA deadline, many anticipate the Utah Jazz will make a move, however, will it be one of the trade rumors that involves Lauri Markkanen? Amidst a 6-13 record to start the regular season, the Jazz have lost seven of their last 10 games, leading many to assume no player on the sub-.500 roster is off limits.
Still, Markkanen has grown into a pillar that the Jazz can build around its future in a competitive Western Conference, per NBA insider Marc Stein.
“Utah is one of those seven sub-.500 clubs in the West, but what you repeatedly hear about the Jazz on the NBA grapevine is that they long to be more competitive again. They don't want to be down there with all the other tankers,” Stein reported. “They miss being a Western Conference factor, which hasn't happened since the 2021-22 season after Utah's trades to move off of Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.
“So… Difficult as it can be for rival teams to read the intentions of a front office that now houses Austin Ainge as well as Danny Ainge, more teams than not that we speak to are increasingly convinced that the Jazz are more likely to try to add to their Markkanen-led core this Trade Season rather than trade Markkanen away.”
Lauri Markkanen off to his best start for Jazz
Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen's impressive start will only fuel rumors for a subpar team with the fifth-worst record in the Western Conference. Still, as NBA insider Marc Stein notes, Markkanen is happy in Utah, and despite never reaching the postseason, is making a case to be the team's franchise player.
“Markkanen is averaging a career-high 28.5 points per game in his ninth season to build on a monster national team summer for Finland. It's true that the 28-year-old has still yet to log a single playoff minute in the NBA, but he unabashedly loves Salt Lake City,” Stein said. “There is a strong case to be made, once you take it all in, for building around the 7-foot Finn.”
Markkanen scored a career-high 51 points in a 138-134 overtime win against the Suns in October.
