The Los Angeles Lakers don’t have enough to make a Trade for Lauri Markkanen.
Let’s be honest: the Los Angeles Lakers are not serious candidates for Lauri Markkanen.
This offseason, the Utah Jazz hope to sign significant players rather than trade them. While not explicitly stated, the goal in Salt Lake City is to keep Lauri Markkanen, and not just keep him, but to extend his contract for the long term. The Jazz hope to construct a championship-caliber team around him in the future, but that can only happen if they keep him and add to the roster.
However, others predict LeBron James will push the Los Angeles Lakers to sign the big man. James recently made headlines for telling J.J. Reddick that Markkanen was one of his favorite players to watch, and the way the team employed Markkanen
Jazz location, SLC Dunk believes the Jazz should consider trading Markkanen to the Lakers for three first-round choices and Austin Reeves. They make a number of valid points, including prioritizing the rebuild, allowing the younger players more time, cashing in on Markkanen while his value is high, etc.
They are not wrong in their argument, but the Lakers lack the necessary assets for Markkanen. He’s a Top 25 player, and seeing James rave about Markkanen should give anyone wanting to trade for the Finnish superstar a sense that he won’t be cheap.
Three first-round picks would have made sense in the past, but given how consistently good he is game in and game out, he’s significantly more valuable than that.
You could persuade me down from four picks to three if you trade for some good players. Reeves is good, but I’d need another player of equivalent or more value than Reeves to make the trade work.
The Lakers are close to having the assets, but they are not there yet. If the Jazz fail to sign any significant superstars this offseason and Markkanen is unwilling to sign a contract extension, let’s talk about it and figure out a trade that works for the Jazz.
However, the Lakers now lack the necessary assets.