It took two games for Lauri Markkanen to prove a false narrative wrong

When the 2024-25 season ended, many wondered if the Utah Jazz made a mistake giving Lauri Markkanen a max extension. He unquestionably had his worst season as a Jazzman, and he was about to start his rich new deal. Two games into the Jazz season, it's abundantly clear that last season was a flash in the pan, and that Markkanen is still the star the Jazz paid him to be.

It was clear during the Jazz's second game against the Sacramento Kings last night, but Markkanen definitely looked his old self in their opening night shellacking of the Los Angeles Clippers.

More of that had to do with the dominance from pretty much everyone on the roster, most notably Walker Kessler, so while Markkanen could have had a better statline, he didn't need to. Thus proving that the Jazz star plays for the team and not for himself.

But his performance against the Kings is more proof of the star he still is and the player who looked like the EuroBasket MVP.

Markkanen didn't exactly show much as a floor spacer, but he still found ways to dominate in a hard-fought loss against a team vying for the playoffs. That's what All-Star players do when one area of their game isn't working as well as it typically does. Find other ways to make their impact known.

The EuroBasket already gave everyone a pretty good hint of what was to come from Markkanen this season, but two games into this young season, it's clear that he is still very much the All-Star-caliver player he was in his first two years with the Jazz.

One question remains for Markkanen & the Jazz

So now that it's clear that Markkanen can still play at the level he did from 2022 to 2024, now we must ask ourselves if the Jazz plan to keep him for the entirety of his prime or if they will trade him as he continues to re-establish his value as a player.

The Jazz look like they will be a competitive team this season, even if it's still likely they will lost most of their games, which could signify that they are closer to becoming a playoff team than everyone thinks. If that's the case, then that makes quite the argument that their best move is to keep Markkanen for when they do.

It is also possible that Utah will still have a ways to go from returning to the playoffs, which would make a Markkanen trade easier. However, there's no guarantee that anyone they would get back for him would be as good as he is, let alone better. It's a miracle that the Jazz actually got someone as good as Markkanen in return for Donovan Mitchell three years ago.

Whether the Jazz trade Markkanen or not depends on how they feel about him in their long-term vision and whether he will continue to be happy being around for the rebuilding process.