On Monday, NBA insider Matt Moore reported for FanSided that the Utah Jazz "continue to stonewall all talks for Lauri Markkanen." In other words, barring a sudden change, Markkanen isn't going anywhere.
Markkanen trade speculation is nothing new. The Warriors pursued a trade for the forward before he signed a five-year, $238 million contract extension with the Jazz in 2024. That put an end to the trade rumors, at least temporarily.
Surprise, but Markkanen's future was another offseason topic, thanks to his play at EuroBasket, and the fact that the Jazz aren't trying to win. They got off to a better start than most expected, but since then, they've lost defensive anchor Walker Kessler to season-ending shoulder surgery. Guess what that news did? Increase the odds, at least in theory, of a Markkanen trade.
It's crystal clear now that Utah isn't interested in trading Markkanen. The Jazz would need an offer that they couldn't refuse to move the 28-year-old, and knowing Danny Ainge, it'd need to be at least 10 first-round picks. That's not that much of an exaggeration, either.
Jazz don't want to trade Lauri Markkanen
Markkanen is averaging a career-high 30.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game this season, shooting 47.9% from the field and 38.9% from three. He's also shooting 88% from the free-throw line on a career-high of 7.1 attempts per game.
Utah is currently No. 10 in the West with a 5-8 record, so if the season ended today, the Jazz would be in the play-in tournament. There are still a lot of games left to play, 69 to be exact, but as the season goes on, Utah shouldn't want to be near play-in range. One way to ensure that would be trading Markkanen.
Austin Ainge said over the offseason that the Jazz wouldn't tank, but they proceeded to attach draft capital to a few veterans via trade and bought out Jordan Clarkson's contract. Their actions haven't matched Ainge's words. Fans shouldn't want them to win, as if Utah's first-round pick in 2026 falls out of the top eight, it will go to OKC. The Jazz want to keep that pick, which brings us back to Markkanen.
There is a con to trading Markkanen, and it's as simple as losing a star player. Utah isn't a destination for NBA stars. The Jazz either have to get lucky in the draft by landing star talent like Donovan Mitchell (thanks to the Nuggets) or extremely lucky in a trade, as they did with Markkanen in the first place. It's also beneficial for Markkanen to be around the younger players. Maybe there is a future star (or stars) in that bunch.
If Utah is serious about keeping Markkanen, and that seems to be the case, the Jazz will have to find a way to lose games, which means purposefully keeping Markkanen off the floor. It wouldn't be the first time Utah has done that.
The trade deadline is still well over two months away, so just because the Jazz aren't engaging in talks for Markkanen now doesn't mean they won't. A trade could be in the cards in the ever-changing NBA, but as of right now, Utah's not interested.