Trade #1 - Houston Rockets
Rockets receive: Lauri Markkanen, Utah's 1st round pick in 2024 (#10 overall)
Jazz receive Jabari Smith Jr., Jock Landale, Houston's 1st round pick in 2024 (#3 overall), the rights to swap 2027 first round picks with Brooklyn, and Houston's 2029 1st round pick (Top 3 protected).
On the surface, one might ask why the Rockets would trade Smith, who seems to be one of their young pieces for the future?
Houston wants to be in the playoffs and contending, right NOW. Not in a few years. If Alperen Sengun hadn't gotten hurt, they would have made the play-in this season. As things stood, they ended up 41-41 and missed the boat.
Adding an all-star like Lauri Markkanen to their core of Sengun, Jalen Green, Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, Amen Thompson, and Cam Whitmore would allow Houston to move out of the play-in territory and get into 50-win territory, able to compete with the top teams in the West and end their building phase immediately.
Plus, moving from #3 to #10 would allow Houston to reduce their salary committment from $8.9 million to $4.5 million for that player in 2024-25, which is consequential moving forward as they have a lot of guys on rookie scale deals that will be needing extensions, not to mention the newly acquired Lauri Markkanen needing a max-level deal as well.
The Jazz would take Smith and slot him at the 4 but also can play him as a small ball 5. A duo of Smith, Walker Kessler, and Taylor Hendricks would give other teams nightmares on both ends of the court in a year or two.
The Jazz are in the midst of their rebuild, regardless of what Danny Ainge hunts this summer. Getting a young talent such as Smith on a rookie deal for 2 more years, along with a better backup center in Landale would allow the Jazz to forestall big-money deals for the time being, as they continue to build their roster. And getting to move up to #3 in this year's draft, plus future picks in 2027 and 2029 would be well worth the risk of bottoming out in the short-term.
What do you think? What deal should the Jazz take for Lauri Markkanen, if available? Let us know in the comments.