After his surprise breakout, the Utah Jazz had every right to see what they had in Lauri Markkanen. The former lottery pick flourished to the point where maybe it was worth trying to build a playoff team around him. Two years later, it's clear that, because this era has run its course, the Jazz should trade Markkanen because he no longer fits their current goals.
And if that's not enough, if there's a golden time to cash in on him, it might be now. Zach Lowe elaborated on this point on "The Zach Lowe Show," explaining why he believes trading Markkanen would be the best option for Utah (1:16:23 mark).
"If there's not a big opportunity to add something that really vaults them into like play-in territory... and someone comes to them and is like, '...Here's a strong offer for Lauri Markkanen'... I think they'd have to consider taking it, and would consider taking it because does he fit their timeline anymore? What can (Utah) get for him?
"...I don't think he's like itching to spend the rest of his prime on crappy Utah teams with a bunch of 20-year-olds. If you had to make me guess, that's the path that I would guess they go down."
Recently, it's been confirmed that executives around the league believe the Jazz will involve Lauri Markkanen, among their other veterans, in trade discussions this offseason. It's also been confirmed that they won't trade him just for the sake of trading him. They will want something for him.
While it makes sense for the Jazz to trade Markkanen, the other key variable in this equation is finding a team that would give Utah the value they want for him.
Trading Markkanen would allow the Jazz to be bad without 'tanking'
Austin Ainge boldly promised that Jazz fans would not see a repeat of tanking next season after the team hired him. That doesn't mean the Jazz won't be bad next season. It will likely mean they won't rest their guys as blatantly as they did this past season with Markkanen.
Even if they legitimately tried to be good, the Western Conference is a warzone from top to bottom. That further reinforces why it would make sense to trade Markkanen while the opportunity is there.
If they trade Markkanen for young players, assets, and even noticeable talent downgrades, that lowers their ceiling enough that they can play their youngsters, which would allow them to still vie for a high draft pick without being considered tankers.
It would take more than trading Markkanen to do that, but trading him would lower the Jazz's ceiling more than anyone else on the roster. The Jazz want to improve their future, so trading Markkanen would be a giant step in accomplishing that.