Lauri Markkanen has been nothing short of a remarkable story for the Utah Jazz ever since they acquired him in 2022. No one necessarily asked him to, but Markkanen has risen through the ranks to become yet another unlikely star in Utah.
Perhaps the best part is that he's made it clear how much he loves Utah. He's even talked about how he thinks the stigma surrounding it is a myth. It's always great to have a star who has embraced the city and its fans.
However there's always been one elephant in the room: is he staying around for the long haul or will he be traded for more assets? The Jazz can't trade Markkanen until the offseason, and that was by design because he signed on a day that prohibited the Jazz from trading him during the 2024-25 season.
The concerns with trading Markkanen are as valid now as they've been since this question was asked. There's no guarantee Utah will draft anyone as good as Markkanen currently is in the coming years or that any future star they bring in will embrace the team like Markkanen has.
However, the elephant in the room in this particular instance is a new one, and it's based on what's happened since Markkanen signed his extension that, lest we forget, also got him a raise on his current deal.
Utah may have missed their chance to fully capitalize on Markkanen's value
Markkanen's value wasn't just his versatility as a seven-footer capable of playing multiple positions while also creating his own shot. He was also extremely underpaid for his skillset, which made him so appealing to any interested party.
It makes all the sense in the world that the Jazz didn't want to trade him, but they would have gotten a haul for him if they had decided to send him away.
Now, he's not underpaid anymore. He is paid like a franchise player, and no one's necessarily disagreeing with Utah's decision to do that. However, his production hasn't been as good as it had been for the last two seasons.
Markkanen is averaging 19.2 points in an injury-plagued season while shooting 42.5% and 34.5% from three. Looking at how he's done the last two seasons, that's a noteworthy dropoff. If the Jazz decided to trade Markkanen, they'd get some value back, but likely not nearly as much as they would have several months ago.
There won't be any Markkanen trade rumors for at least a couple more months, but if and when they do sprout up, the Jazz have to think about if they played this right. Hindsight is 20/20, but if Markkanen wasn't in their long-terms plans, they may regret not trading him back when he was arguably on the most team-friendly deal in the league.