What Will the Utah Jazz do with Lauri Markkanen?
Lauri Markkanen has a common problem in the NBA. He’s on a team that has decided it doesn’t want to be relevant.
Markkanen spent his first five seasons in Chicago and the last three with Tear-It-Down GM Danny Ainge in Utah.
It’s why Markkanen had to remind NBA personnel and fans who he really is. His performance in EuroBasket was borderline legendary. He pushed Finland to a win over Serbia and led his home country to the EuroBasket semifinals.
When it was all said and done, Markkanen averaged 23 points and eight rebounds per game.
On the surface, that means Markkanen has the NBA value that Ainge needs to demand in a trade, but I’m unsure if teams interested in Markkanen would send a haul of unprotected first-round picks.
If Ainge wants to do right by the organization and Markkanen, the Jazz would become buyers and turn the key to the next phase.
Time Up for Kawhi Leonard
When Kawhi left Toronto for Los Angeles, he exorcised some demons. After being unfairly portrayed in San Antonio, Leonard pulled off the ultimate rental-trade payoff by bringing a title to Toronto.
He gained fans after stiffing LeBron James and then trolled him by signing with the Los Angeles Clippers.
That’s where it all ended.
Since Leonard has arrived in Los Angeles, he’s been diminishing returns. Both demanding that the Clippers trade whatever it took to get Paul George and being habitually hurt have destroyed the organization.
It serves as a cautionary tale.
Now George has the Los Angeles Clippers’ owner, Steve Ballmer, in hot water.
The league is investigating Ballmer and the organization over claims that they used a third-party to circumvent the salary cap. Of course, this also centers around Leonard.
Leonard has become a walking “be careful what you wish for.”
Latest on Kuminga
Let me start by saying this. Jonathan Kuminga does owe Golden State a deal that allows the Warriors to trade him anywhere they want him to go.
Golden State’s two-year and three-year offers include a team option, which has been a thorn in the side of the Kuminga camp.
Both the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns have put together trade packages in line with how the Warriors have played him. Those deals have been turned down because the Warriors want teams to trade assets in line with how they imagine that team will play him, not how the Warriors have played him.
Once you get your arms around that, you’ll understand why Kuminga taking the qualifying offer and betting on himself makes sense even though Steve Kerr hasn’t made him a consistent rotational player.
Kuminga taking the qualifying offer and becoming an unrestricted free agent makes more sense to his camp, even though that means taking less money in the short run.
