On Wednesday's episode of "The Zach Lowe Show," guest Steve Jones Jr. wondered what Lauri Markkanen's price tag would be for an interested team like the Pistons. Lowe said, "He's averaging like 30 a game. The price is going to be everything. It's going to be [Tobias] Harris, [Jaden] Ivey, [Ron] Holland, every pick and swap you have." He added that it'd be four first-round picks and four pick swaps, since the Pistons would want to keep Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson.
NBA insider Matt Moore reported for FanSided on Nov. 17 that the Jazz "continue to stonewall all talks for Lauri Markkanen" and that if a trade happened, it'd be "sudden."
The Pistons are one of the teams that have the combination of young players and draft assets to get Markkanen. They could make an offer that'd get the Jazz's attention, but as Lowe said, Utah will want just about everything that Detroit has. The Jazz might even ask for Cade Cunningham.
Danny Ainge will get everything possible out of a trade, plus more. Look at the Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell trades. Over the summer, Utah hired Danny's son, Austin Ainge, in the front office as the president of basketball operations. Doing business with two Ainges?! That won't be easy.
Lowe speculates on what Jazz would ask for in Lauri Markkanen trade
Markkanen is averaging 30.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.0 steals per game in 35.9 minutes for Utah, shooting 48.5% from the field and 38.5% from three. The Jazz are 5-9, 10th in the West, which, for them, is exceeding expectations.
The problem is that Utah doesn't need to exceed expectations. Tanking doesn't always necessarily go in your favor in the draft lottery, but the Jazz need to tank. They owe the Thunder a top-eight protected pick in the 2026 draft, so why risk the chance that pick will fall out of the top eight? Keeping Markkanen rather than trading him would do that.
The trade deadline is about 11 weeks away, so Utah's stance on Markkanen could change between now and then. That doesn't mean that the price tag will, though. If Detroit, the top team in the East, calls, Utah won't let the Pistons snatch Markkanen for a "good" price, especially not with the way that he's playing.
If the Pistons won't give up Cunningham (and they won't), the Jazz will ask for everything else. That will be the case for any other team that might be interested. You'll have to give up the farm for Lauri Markkanen.