Grade the signing: Lauri Markkanen signs long-term extension with Jazz

It's common knowledge by now that Lauri Markkanen was not going anywhere. All that had to be confirmed was when the Utah Jazz planned to sign him. On August 6, such confirmation came to pass.

The Athletic's Shams Charania, Tony Jones, and Anthony Slater reported in an August 6 story that the Jazz and Markkanen have every intention of agreeing on an extension. Better yet, the timing helps Markkanen stick around.

With the signing on that specific date, Markkanen also made sure his spot on the Jazz would be safe for at least another year.

"Markkanen and the Utah Jazz are expected to agree to a massive, long-term contract extension, planned to be signed Wednesday or later, making him ineligible to be traded for the entire 2024-25 season, league sources tell The Athletic. For Markkanen and Utah, this is a landscape-altering deal, keeping him off the trade market for a full season and out of 2025 free agency where he currently would have been the No. 1 available player."

Markkanen is locked up long-term. The Jazz were not going to play games with him, and now they get to adequately pay him for the All-Star that he is. Is it the right move?

The case against keeping Markkanen

There are a few reasons why the Jazz should have traded Markkanen when they had the chance. The truth is, as good as he's played for the last few seasons, he may get in the way of a promising future rather than add to a new one.

Markkanen probably won't enter any MVP discussions ever. At best, he could make a few All-NBA teams on top of the All-Star team. He is a piece of a winner, but he is not the piece in a winner. Because of that, he could keep the Jazz the way they are in the sense that they're too good to be bad and too bad to be good.

The one thing all NBA teams should avoid at all costs is being in NBA purgatory. Being one step above terrible will only appeal for so long before people realize that there has been hardly any progress. No one has had a problem with how impressive Markkanen has been in Utah, but not capitalizing on his value while they had the chance is a huge risk.

That risk includes losing the chance of drafting Cooper Flagg, a rare sure-thing who will enter the NBA in 2025. For as good as Markkanen is, there's strong belief that Flagg will reach heights that Markkanen won't.

The case for keeping Markkanen

Even if Markkanen may never be the guy on a title team, he's proven an excellent ballplayer. Despite the fact that the Jazz haven't been a playoff team since acquiring him, there's not a soul who thinks that reflects on Markkanen's effectiveness as a player.

Markkanen is an excellent player. There is no hypotheticals when it comes to how he plays. The Jazz know what they're going to get from him, and that is not the case with the draft no matter who they get.

Getting rid of him and going for the tank gives the Jazz *the chance* to draft players who are better, but that doesn't mean they will. Here's something else to consider. The Jazz could have traded Markkanen in the hopes of tanking their season to get someone better, but the truth is, tanking is not a foolproof option.

Take the Philadelphia 76ers. When they started "The Process" in 2013, they traded Jrue Holiday, an All-Star two-way guard who was not a franchise player by any means but played a huge part in two separate teams winning the title. Trading Holiday, among others, paved the way for them to get multiple high lottery picks.

And how many of those high lottery picks panned out better than Holiday in the long run? One. How far has Philadelphia come as a result of their process? They haven't gotten further than the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and there's a chance they may never go any further.

The Jazz also have the opportunity to have their cake and eat it. Maybe they won't tank as shamefully as some of the other bottom-feeders, but only one other team in the Western Conference is projected to tank - Portland - and they, too, have win-now players.

The bottom line is that Markkanen re-signing with Utah gives them options. He could be piece of something special in the future. And if he's not, he helps them get more assets.

Grade: A

That grade is for now, but If this turns out in the worst way possible for the Jazz, it could turn into an F in the long run.