Is there any chance the Utah Jazz trade Lauri Markkanen this offseason?

After a potential Most Improved Player win this past season, is there any chance we could see the Jazz trade Lauri Markkanen in the coming months?

Now I get it, this is a crazy thought to have considering Markkanen’s leap in production this last season. Maybe it would be a bit crazy to trade a 26-year-old, first-time All-Star the season after he makes his big jump. But, with Danny Ainge, all of the cards just may be on the table for the Jazz.

According to a recent report from the Salt Lake Tribune, some Utah Jazz execs have gone on to say there could be ‘a lot of change this summer.’ What’s meant by that at the moment is truly unsure. However, maybe this means the stability of the current roster isn’t as solid as we may think.

The Salt Lake Tribune goes on to discuss Jazz CEO, Danny Ainge’s excitement with the current state and flexibility of the roster.

"“Yeah, this is gonna be fun. A lot more draft picks, more money to spend — yeah, a shopping spree. Yeah, this will be more fun — much more fun than last year.”"

Jazz general manager, Justin Zanik also went on to talk about his thoughts on how the Jazz could approach the coming months. He too also seems to be looking forward to the potential possibilities.

"“We thought that this season would be a journey, a season of discovery…We got to find out a lot of different things about our players — things we really needed to know as we try to open up a championship window… [With] the optionality that we’ve created, the possibilities are endless… There could be a lot of change this summer.”"

It seems like the Jazz are holding no reservations for anyone’s place on the roster come next year. That then leads us to the question of the roster security of All-Star Lauri Markkanen. He’s coming off a career-best season, posting career highs in points, rebounds, assists, and field goal percentage.

The Utah Jazz could approach the value of Lauri Markkanen in two ways this offseason.

They could build off of his production from last season entering the next. The Jazz now have a new crucial building block in the team-building process that they didn’t know they had before this season. Utah can view him as a hopeful long-term starter for the franchise moving forward.

Or, the Jazz could also look at this situation with a different lens. Lauri Markkanen has never had more value than he does right now, so Utah can ultimately capitalize on that value now. How unrealistic would it be to expect a team to give a package worth about three first-round picks for Markkanen?

This could give the Jazz even more assets to play with in the future. While losing Markkanen would be a big loss for the team immediately, with three first-round picks approaching in this draft, along with whatever return Utah could get for him, the Jazz could recoup their loss in talent pretty easily.

The idea could be described as interesting, to say the least, but might be a bit hard to see as a reality. While Danny Ainge has discussed his excitement concerning the possibilities and flexibility of the roster, he’s shown no indication of wanting to move off of Markkanen.

According to Markkanen himself, he’s previously said CEO Danny Ainge has told him that he could buy a house in Utah, indicating Ainge’s hopes of keeping him in town long-term. For Ainge to say that to Markkanen just to turn around and trade him would be both pretty unexpected and shady on his part.

We’ll wait to see how the upcoming offseason months begin to pan out, and if Markkanen continues to stay a part of the Utah Jazz’s plans going forward.