Getty Lauri Markkanen playing against the Golden State Warriors.
The Golden State Warriors have one of the biggest offseasons in franchise history coming up, needing to make a move to give Stephen Curry and Draymond Green with a new co-star.
In a Heavy Sports proposed trade, that would be Lauri Markkanen, who still has one year left on his deal with the Utah Jazz.
Warriors would get: Markkanen
Jazz would get: Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, 2026 first-round pick, 2028 first-round pick
Markkanen, who turns 27 on May 22, also appeared in a story on The Athletic’s “potential offseason wish list” for the Warriors, but the story called Golden State’s chances of landing Markkanen “very slight.”
“Markkanen’s skill set (career 37.5% from deep) is just about the perfect big-man match for Draymond, and Markkanen is definitely young enough to help carry the Warriors into the next era, too.” Kawakami wrote on May 21. “But if the Jazz make him available on the trade market, just about every team in the league would be calling. Unless Utah’s Danny Ainge falls in love with the idea of grabbing the Warriors’ future draft picks, this doesn’t seem like a ready-made trade conversation.”
How Lauri Markkanen Would Help the Warriors
In April, FanSided’s Josh Cornelissen also considered the possibility of Markkanen on the Warriors.
“In terms of pure offensive basketball fit, it’s hard to think of a player who would fit better with the Golden State Warriors than Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen,” Cornelissen wrote on April 13. “The seven-footer was frequently compared to Dirk Nowitzki coming out of Arizona, and while he is not a future Hall of Famer, the idea of adding a Dirk-type to the Splash Brothers is a mind-bending one.”
In 2023-24, Markkanen averaged 23.2 points and 8.2 rebounds, and he is an athletic defender and prolific 3-point shooter, putting up 8 attempts a game.
Those stats make him less likely to be a trade candidate from the Jazz’s perspective, according to The Athletic’s Tony Jones.
“In a big picture, Markkanen’s value to the Jazz is so great that it’s going to take an offer that is probably not going to come to pry him from the Jazz,” Jones wrote on May 3. “Something like four or five first-round picks, and a star-level talent coming over.”
Jones asserted that Markkanen is a “star-level player who likes being in Utah. The Jazz fully intend to build around him.”
Should the Golden State Warriors Trade Jonathan Kuminga?
The one issue with trading for Markkanen would be that the Jazz would likely want Kuminga in return. While Markkanen has proven to be the better player at this point in his career, the 21-year-old Kuminga has plenty of potential to be a high-level player.
The Warriors trading Kuminga would be for one reason: adding a win-now piece that fits with Curry. In any deal that involves him, the best ones would be landing a player who’d be young and can play at an All-Star level.
Markkanen would give them just that.
However, Kuminga’s 16.1 points and 4.8 rebounds were a major step in the right direction. Kuminga also has the tools to be a high-level defender.