NBA Exec Links Lakers to Projected $175 Million ‘Dream Target’

Utah Jazz team president Danny Ainge has a reputation for driving a very hard bargain, but he could be willing to move star Lauri Markkanen for the right price.

“They’ll listen,” one Western Conference executive told Heavy Sports of Ainge and the Jazz. “They always listen. Danny’s reputation is overblown. He wants a championship team, he wants to do what Sam Presti has done in Oklahoma City. He knows he is a long way off still. They’ll be tough and the price will be high but that’s how it should be.”

The executive suggested Markkanen could command $175 million on a four-year contract.

The Los Angeles Lakers could be a team with interest in Markkanen. Active, productive 7-footers who can shoot are a rare commodity, and putting a big shooter like that next to Anthony Davis is what one GM told Heavy is a “dream scenario.”

It’s hard to believe that Markkanen has been traded three times in his career and the Lakers never have been involved — not even as a team with an interest — in any of those transactions. But then, Markkanen was not much of a commodity early on.

When the Chicago Bulls first traded Markkanen, the return was relatively meager. They got two second-round draft picks plus Derrick Jones Jr. in a sign-and-trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Portland Trail Blazers, but mostly got themselves free of the responsibility of having to pay the player, who’d been frequently injured and generally disappointing.

Markkanen was moved on from Cleveland to the Jazz after one year, but the return this time was better—he was packaged with Collin Sexton, Ochai Agbaji and three first-round pick, plus two pick swaps, for star guard Donovan Mitchell.

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Knicks, Heat Named as Other Possible Teams for Lauri Markkanen

Markkanen’s difficulty staying healthy has not changed much since his days in Chicago (he has missed 43 games in the last two seasons), but his production has skyrocketed. He was an All-Star in 2022-23 with 25.6 points and 8.6 rebounds, and he backed that up with 23.2 points and 8.2 rebounds last season.

Markkanen’s biggest selling point? He shot 39.1% from the 3-point line in 2022-23 and 39.9% last year. But Markkanen will be a dream for just about every contender in the NBA this offseason, and even some non-contenders.

“There are a few teams that, when you look at it, he is going to be their dream target,” the GM told Heavy. “The Lakers, you get a guy like him with Anthony Davis, and that’s perfect for both guys. The Knicks would love to get hold of him. The Heat, again, put him with Bam [Adebayo] and that is the pair you want to build around, you can send Jimmy [Butler] wherever he wants.

“Just the floor-spacing aspect of it, it’s so valuable. He could make things easier on your stars.”

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Lakers’ Best Offer Might Not Be Good Enough

So, what’s the catch? Well, the Lakers aren’t the only team that could use Markkanen. They can offer good role players and future picks, but after this year’s draft, they can’t trade a first-rounder until 2029, and could offer that pick along with their 2031 pick.

Other teams will have better offers, with more coveted picks going to Utah. Or the Jazz could put off trading Markkanen and instead extend his contract, giving him what the exec said would amount to “a little less than [Domantas] Sabonis,” who got four years and $187 million in an extension a year ago.

Four years and $175 million for Markkanen, the exec said, was a good projection.

“The problem for the Lakers, the best offer is going to be Rui [Hachimura] and Austin Reaves and two first-rounders, let’s say. Well, if I am Oklahoma City, I can beat that. If I am Houston, I can beat that. The Warriors can beat it—it’s a long list,” the GM said.

“So the only way that happens is maybe other teams get worried about his injury history and the Lakers are sitting there with the best offer. If Utah knows they’re not gonna extend him, you’d have to consider it. I do think they extend him, but still, you’ve got to consider it.”

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