The Utah Jazz's efforts to draft Cooper Flagg failed on Monday, which changes everything regarding their offseason. That was a given, but a report revealed that had they won the Flagg sweepstakes, the Jazz would have seen through pairing him with Lauri Markkanen.
HoopsHype's Michael Scotto revealed that the Jazz not only would have paired them up, but also would have actively seeking more help to build the right team around them.
"There was a belief from some executives around the league that if Utah landed Cooper Flagg alongside Lauri Markkanen in the frontcourt, the Jazz would become more aggressive on the trade market to improve the team," Scotto wrote.
In fact now that Flagg isn't an option, it now casts more doubt on whether Markkanen will stick around with the Jazz, per Scotto.
"Now, that direction is unclear, and it remains to be seen what Markkanen’s future will hold as the only building block under a long-term contract. Several teams previously inquired about the availability of Markkanen before he extended with Utah in August of 2024."
Markkanen has maintained his loyalty to Utah since he sprouted into a star with the Jazz. However, though he's been an excellent get for the Jazz, the bottom line is that he is not a franchise player who can guide the team to a title.
He is talented enough to be a piece of the puzzle, but the Jazz clearly need a player who is in a tier above that to have any hope of winning their first title as a franchise. They clearly saw Flagg as that guy and for good reason.
So that leaves one question.
Could Markkanen be traded to move up in the draft?
The Jazz could roll the dice on who they pick at No. 5, hoping he will be their next guy, but it's riskier because, obviously, it's the fifth overall pick. The odds simply just aren't that high compared to the four picks before him.
However, with the Jazz, Markkanen is a win-now player and multiple teams trying to win-now happen to have a higher pick than them. Namely, the Philadelphia 76ers and San Antonio Spurs are teams who have playoff aspirations that aren't in desperate need of developing a young star. The Jazz could offer either Markkanen and the fifth pick to move up.
However, the Jazz would only do it if they were fully confident that the player they would trade Markkanen for is their next face of the franchise. In other words, they believe wholeheartedly that he is better than Markkanen and will take the team to the next level.
Sadly, this intel from Scotto further confirms how much this situation truly sucks for the Jazz because no Flagg could mean no Markkanen going forward. There has been a portion of the Jazz fanbase who believe it might be time to trade Markkanen while his value is still moderately high (it was higher last year). As more time passes, it's becoming more difficult not to see where they're coming from.