{"id":88949,"date":"2024-08-05T14:36:33","date_gmt":"2024-08-05T18:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=88949"},"modified":"2024-08-05T14:36:33","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T18:36:33","slug":"warriors-insist-one-crucial-stance-on-lauri-markkanen-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/05\/warriors-insist-one-crucial-stance-on-lauri-markkanen-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors Insist One Crucial Stance On Lauri Markkanen Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Golden State Warriors remain firm in one major stance if they were to receive Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen<\/a> via a trade. The Dubs are the reported frontrunners<\/a> to acquire the seven-foot Finnish big man. Landing him would be the crowning jewel of a successful offseason for the Warriors, which saw them reload with Buddy Hield<\/a>, Kyle Anderson<\/a>, and De\u2019Anthony Melton<\/a> after they lost longtime core member Klay Thompson<\/a> to the Dallas Mavericks and future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul<\/a> to the San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n

Warriors Insist One Crucial Stance On Lauri Markkanen Trade<\/h2>\n

Despite their dire need for a huge piece like Markkanen, the Warriors are not willing to part with some of their prized assets. They have asserted that incoming second-year guard Brandin Podziemski<\/a> shall not be included in any trade package for the 27-year-old Jazz forward, per Marc Stein on Substack<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Warriors, as of Sunday, continued to be regarded as the league’s most ardent Markkanen suitor … but at the same time still unwilling to surrender Brandin Podziemski in a trade package for the 7-foot Finn.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Warriors, led by general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr.<\/a>, have attempted to create trade packages for Markkanen that do not include either Podziemski or forward Jonathan Kuminga<\/a>. However, they have been unsuccessful in meeting the likely high asking price set by Jazz alternate governor and CEO of basketball operations Danny Ainge<\/a>. Markkanen had a slightly down campaign in 2023-24 compared to his NBA All-Star appearance and Most Improved Player award the previous year. He averaged 23.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in just 55 games. A shoulder injury along with the Jazz going the tanking route at the end limited his appearances.<\/p>\n

Brandin Podziemski Had An Incredible Rookie Season<\/h3>\n

Podziemski turned out to be a pleasant surprise in an inconsistent season for the Warriors after the team selected him with the 19th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. The 21-year-old averaged 9.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 26.6 minutes per game over 74 regular season contests. The Wisconsin native’s sensational debut campaign earned him a spot on the<\/a> 2023-24 NBA All-Rookie First Team.<\/p>\n

However, the Warriors still failed to make the 2024 NBA Playoffs despite significant contributions from rookies Podziemski and center Trayce Jackson-Davis<\/a>. The Sacramento Kings eliminated them<\/a> from postseason contention in the play-in tournament after they finished as the 10th seed in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

Major Clue On Lauri Markkanen’s Future<\/h3>\n

Meanwhile, a huge hint regarding Markkanen’s future has surfaced. The Jazz recently sent some of their coaching staff to work with the 2022-23 NBA Most Improved Player in his home country Finland, suggesting they might be planning to keep him on their roster for the upcoming 2024-25 season<\/p>\n

Incoming second-year Jazz guard Keyonte George<\/a> is also in Finland working with Markkanen. The team has been posting about their workouts<\/a> on social media, making a sudden trade to the Bay Area seem increasingly unlikely given their preparations.<\/p>\n

The clock is ticking for the rest of the league on a potential Markkanen trade. He will enter the final year of his current contract worth $18 million in salary for the 2024-25 season. On August 6, the former Arizona Wildcat will become eligible to negotiate an extension<\/a>. If he re-signs with the Jazz on the first day, he cannot be traded for six months. Thus, his eligibility for a move will align exactly with the NBA trade deadline for the 2024-25 season, set for February 6. If he were to re-sign after August 6, no team will be able to trade for him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Golden State Warriors remain firm in one major stance if they were to receive Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen via a trade. The Dubs are the reported frontrunners to acquire the seven-foot Finnish big man. Landing him would be the crowning jewel of a successful offseason for the Warriors, which saw them reload with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5256,"featured_media":88985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,25,62,4721,24],"tags":[48978,512,926,412],"class_list":["post-88949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-warriors","category-nba","category-trade-rumors","category-jazz","tag-brandin-podziemski","tag-danny-ainge","tag-lauri-markkanen","tag-mike-dunleavy-jr"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5256"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}