As we all know, even though Lauri Markkanen's name has been featured in trade rumors, the Utah Jazz aren't shopping him. They'll only trade him if Danny Ainge gets an offer he can't refuse.
Markkanen is entering his prime, he's underpaid, and he's a rare breed of a player. He's a big capable of stretching the floor and creating his own shot. If that's not enough, despite being a seven-footer, he can play at small forward if anyone asks him to.
Bleacher Report's Greg Swartz proposed a trade that would send Markkanen out of Utah. However, the destination is the Atlanta Hawks, a team whose future remains in limbo because no one knows where they're going to go.
Swartz proposed the following trade in a July 17 story:
Hawks receive: Markkanen
Jazz receive: Onyeka Okongwu, Dyson Daniels, Kobe Bufkin, 2025 Lakers unprotected first-round pick, 2025 Kings top-12 first-round pick
Why Jazz do it according to Swartz
Swartz explained why the deal would appeal to the Jazz. From his perspective, this deal would add to their arsenal of first-round picks for an upcoming draft expected to be overloaded with young talent.
"With the 2025 draft class projected to be one of the best in years, this trade would give the Jazz potentially five first-round picks to jumpstart the franchise.
"They already own unprotected picks from the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves and now add additional selections from the Lakers and Kings (top-12-protected in 2025, top-10 in 2026, turns into 2026 and 2027 second-round picks if not conveyed). Trading Markkanen also helps Utah's chances of keeping its own pick (top-10-protected, owed to the Oklahoma City Thunder)."
But would the Jazz do a trade like this?
Swartz make a good point that getting more first-round picks for the 2025 NBA Draft would appeal very strongly to the Jazz. However, the one downside is this proposed deal doesn't offer truly established young talent.
That's nothing against Okongwu or any of the other players involved. okongwu could and will likely be a solid rotation piece for years to come, but there's no guarantee that any of these players or assets will turn into someone as good as Markkanen.
The other problem with this proposed deal is that there is such a thing as acquiring too many assets. Ainge knows this firsthand during his time with the Celtics. In 2016, they once had as many as eight picks in the draft. They had to waste two of their three highest picks on draft-and-stash players in Ante Zizic and Guerschon Yabusele, neither of whom worked out, though Zizic never played a game for the Celtics.
The NBA Draft does not typically operate like the NFL Draft. Ainge has tried to trade up in the past when he was with the Celtics, and teams took advantage of him trying to cut down on his overabundance of assets.
If it weren't for the fact that this draft class is loaded, this wouldn't be the wisest move for the Jazz because too many draft assets can be a problem, and in this case, no one the Jazz are getting back could turn into the unlikely star that Markkanen is.
Grade: C+