With trade season approaching quickly for the 2023-24 NBA year, many rumors have already begun to swirl around some of the league’s most intriguing candidates for a deal. Of course, you can bet on the Sacramento Kings being involved in those talks with aspirations to add a third star to their roster for a championship push.
One of the most interesting names thrown into the fire as a potential mover has been Utah Jazz All-Star Lauri Markkanen. Despite the seven-year veteran initially considered untouchable in Salt Lake City, recent reports have opened the possibility of a trade surrounding the seven-foot three-level scorer.
Per a report from Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports, sources detail the sense that Utah is no longer holding Markkanen to an ‘untouchable’ status. While the team is not quite actively seeking out a trade for him, it seems nothing is off the table:
"Lauri Markkanen has indeed emerged as a fascinating, albeit unlikely trade candidate before February’s buzzer...The Jazz are by no means expected to trade the 7-foot sharpshooter at this juncture. He has been a true favorite of Jazz officials, sources said. But Utah has indeed left opposing executives with the sense that Markkanen is no longer untouchable in trade conversations, league sources told Yahoo Sports, a tangible change from previous transaction windows. Markkanen will be eligible to negotiate and extend his current contract before its final season begins in 2024-25. "
Through his first 16 games of the season, Markkanen has averaged 23.7 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 1.1 steals a night on impressive shooting splits (48.7/39.0/82.9). He could be a stellar contributing piece to several teams looking to add a complimentary star to boost their talent.
Fisher continues to list the Kings, along with one other franchise, as some of the destinations that could find interest in a hypothetical Lauri trade:
"League personnel believe three teams in particular value the Finnish forward at this preliminary stage of trade conversations. Two of those apparent suitors, Sacramento and Atlanta, make sense, considering the Kings’ and Hawks’ respective approaches for Siakam."
With the Jazz hesitant to move off of Markkanen, a potential package for the Kings to acquire him may be higher than some fans anticipate. Utah CEO Danny Ainge would likely love to get his hands on second-year forward Keegan Murray, but Sacramento has shown no signs of entering his name into a deal.
If anything, seeing the Kings offer a collection of draft assets and a few additional contracts could be the route we see GM Monte McNair taking. The Jazz have coveted that type of return as seen through previous deals involving All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell and big man Rudy Gobert.
However, considering how those deals have begun to unravel for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Cleveland Cavaliers just two seasons after, acting on that type of deal may not be the wisest decision everything considered.
With the Kings sitting atop the Pacific Division a quarter of the way through the season, we may see this team continue to stay conservative into the playoffs as they did through this entire offseason. If things need to find improvement though, this team has the pieces to execute on the market.
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