Jazz Now Deciding Between 3 Teams For Lauri Markkanen Trade

The Utah Jazz currently have the most prized player on the trade market available for a potential deal.

Lauri Markkanen, 27, boasts a unique combination of youth and All-Star pedigree that could easily turn a would-be title contender into the real thing.

Thus far, three teams have expressed serious interest in adding Markkanen. The Los Angeles Lakers’ best offer for him is a matter of public record. Ditto for the Golden State Warriors’. And the Miami Heat’s.

Of that group, Golden State’s package is the most appealing to Utah – but only if they include the one player they have refused to include this entire time.

On Friday Tim MacMahon, Tim Bontempts and Brian Windhorst of ESPN weighed in on the situation surrounding Markkanen.

According to them, the Lakers and Heat aren’t real players in the sweepstakes for the 27-year-old.

“You mentioned that there’s a lack of offers out there that commensurate with what the Jazz want,” Bontempts said.

“We just saw Mikal Bridges, a non-All-Star for five first-round picks. We’ve seen the Jazz make multiple trades for giant picks in the past for Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. We’ve seen all these other trades with all these guys traded around for all these picks all over the place, right?

“There’s just not a lot of picks left, and there’s not a lot of teams left with picks available in places where it makes sense for a guy like Lauri Markkanen to go.”

“Well, there’s one,” said Windhorst.

“There’s two,” McMahon weighed in. “Are we saying Golden State and Houston? Well, [there are] three if you want to count Houston. Oklahoma City, you can always throw Oklahoma City into these conversations. Having said that, they made two big moves without giving up a 1st round pick this summer. But it’s also not really in their m.o. to do that kind of a thing.”

Markkanen has the opportunity to drastically change the fortunes of whichever team he joins.

Which NBA squad will step up and take a chance on Markkanen when everything is said and done? Time will tell.

Anthony Amador

A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school Games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.