NBA Insider Throws Cold Water on Potential Warriors-Jazz Blockbuster Trade

There has been recent talk about the availability of Utah Jazz star Lauri Markkanen, and of course, the Warriors seem like a team to monitor.

However, it may not be that simple for Golden State.

Could the Warriors trade for Markkanen?

NBA insider Jake Fischer recently took to Bleacher Report's "Insider Notebook" to talk about a potential Markkanen trade. Fischer said that he does not think the Jazz are actively shopping Markkanen, but will certainly entertain trade offers for him. Fischer brings up the Warriors as a team that showed interest in him last offseason, but believes it would be a complicated move now.

"The two teams that were right in the mix [last offseason] were Golden State and Sacramento... Golden State doesn't really seem to have the contracts and the juice to get a deal done in the post-Jimmy Butler era," Fischer said.

However, the Warriors could make it work, it might just be too steep of a price for the team to pay.

"But look, if they're gonna go out and get Lauri Markkanen, I think that's the exact type of upgrade that the Warriors are going to be hopefully trying to turn Jonathan Kuminga into," Fischer continued. "But at that point, I don't know how the Warriors get Lauri Markkanen without putting both Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski in that type of deal."

While Markkanen would be an ideal fourth star for the Warriors to have, it seems highly unlikely that they could get a deal done, especially with how stingy the Jazz typically are in trade discussions.

The main obstacle is Markkanen's new contract that he signed last offseason, which is worth $195.9 million over the next four years. Of course, with that type of money, the Warriors would have a very challenging time figuring out the financials of a potential trade, as would any team that is potentially interested in the All-Star forward.