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A suggestion on a Wolves pod led to a post about a possible trade of Jaden McDaniels for Lauri Markkanen straight up. I believe Jaden is more valuable than Lauri when things like age, contract, and upside are factored in. I am curious what everyone else thinks.

Lauri by a little in this contract. When extended it's Lauri by a lot.

Lauri is the better player by a not-insignificant margin. So Lauri.

Lauri easily

Lauri probably does, but id say it depends on the team.. but if I'm Minnesota I'm not wanting Lauri in Mcdaniels place. I want Lauri in KATs place.

Kat to 3rd team
Assets to Utah
Lauri to Minnesota

Lauri, by a lot, despite the contract.

I think if you replace McDaniels with Lauri, Minnesota is a worse team and more expensive. So I don't buy the practicality of the deal... even if Lauri has more trade value in general. McDaniels is incredibly valuable to MN.

Poll doesn’t look close.

I wouldn't mind a trade centered on the two.

winforlose wrote:A suggestion on a Wolves pod led to a post about a possible trade of Jaden McDaniels for Lauri Markkanen straight up. I believe Jaden is more valuable than Lauri when things like age, contract, and upside are factored in. I am curious what everyone else thinks.

Bruh!?, not even close.
Yeah he is 2 years younger and locked up long term . His contract might be fair assuming he improves but he is a role player. A very good one, but a role player. Lauri is a legit all star level player entering his prime. the fact that he has one season on his deal doesn’t tank value that much.

I think the value difference is a good first round pick or two late first round picks.

brackdan70 wrote:

winforlose wrote:A suggestion on a Wolves pod led to a post about a possible trade of Jaden McDaniels for Lauri Markkanen straight up. I believe Jaden is more valuable than Lauri when things like age, contract, and upside are factored in. I am curious what everyone else thinks.

Bruh!?, not even close.
Yeah he is 2 years younger and locked up long term . His contract might be fair assuming he improves but he is a role player. A very good one, but a role player. Lauri is a legit all star level player entering his prime. the fact that he has one season on his deal doesn’t tank value that much.

2 is a funny way to spell 4 (27 -23)

OP's poll would be interesting if it were at the beginning of the season. Instead Lauri just had an Allstar season while mcdaniels' shooting regressed significantly

brackdan70 wrote:

winforlose wrote:A suggestion on a Wolves pod led to a post about a possible trade of Jaden McDaniels for Lauri Markkanen straight up. I believe Jaden is more valuable than Lauri when things like age, contract, and upside are factored in. I am curious what everyone else thinks.

Bruh!?, not even close.
Yeah he is 2 years younger and locked up long term . His contract might be fair assuming he improves but he is a role player. A very good one, but a role player. Lauri is a legit all star level player entering his prime. the fact that he has one season on his deal doesn’t tank value that much.

1. Jaden is four years younger at age 23.

2. Markkanen never looked close to his current talent level at 23. If Markkanen can make an offensive jump why is Jaden suddenly at his peak at age 23?

3. Markkanen is an average defender, Jaden is 2nd team all defense.

4. Both players have injury histories, but Markkanen’s to this point is more significant than Jaden’s.

5. The playoffs showed Jaden to be inconsistent offensively. But when he got it going he was a takeover player. Lauri has never shown that in the playoffs.


Even if you look at like a blue chip for a vet I still say Jaden comes out ahead. But I guess in this case I don’t have a lot support in that position. I will be curious to revisit this next year.

(I assume this doesn’t mean right now, when Lauri is an expiring)

For MIN, they couldn’t afford to add a fourth max deal by making that swap.

For most of the rest of league, getting Markannen’s star talent is more valuable.

Lauri is FAAAAAAAAAR more valuable. If he's traded, it will be for way more than anyone would ever offer for McDaniels.

Because of salary concerns or team need on the defensive end, it's definitely possible that there are certain teams - even many of them - that would bid for McDaniels before they bid for Lauri. But it'd still be a drastically lower price point.

Lauri by a decent margin.

hugepatsfan wrote:Lauri is FAAAAAAAAAR more valuable. If he's traded, it will be for way more than anyone would ever offer for McDaniels.

Because of salary concerns or team need on the defensive end, it's definitely possible that there are certain teams - even many of them - that would bid for McDaniels before they bid for Lauri. But it'd still be a drastically lower price point.

I'll put it this way: if you offered every team in the NBA the chance to add either Lauri or McDaniels for free, right now, on their current contracts, I think 20+ would take Lauri and for most it wouldn't be a super close call.

jscott wrote:

brackdan70 wrote:

winforlose wrote:A suggestion on a Wolves pod led to a post about a possible trade of Jaden McDaniels for Lauri Markkanen straight up. I believe Jaden is more valuable than Lauri when things like age, contract, and upside are factored in. I am curious what everyone else thinks.

Bruh!?, not even close.
Yeah he is 2 years younger and locked up long term . His contract might be fair assuming he improves but he is a role player. A very good one, but a role player. Lauri is a legit all star level player entering his prime. the fact that he has one season on his deal doesn’t tank value that much.

2 is a funny way to spell 4 (27 -23)

Yeah I was a year off. Lauri just turned 27, Jaden is almost 24. It’s about 3 and a third.

brackdan70 wrote:

jscott wrote:

brackdan70 wrote:Bruh!?, not even close.
Yeah he is 2 years younger and locked up long term . His contract might be fair assuming he improves but he is a role player. A very good one, but a role player. Lauri is a legit all star level player entering his prime. the fact that he has one season on his deal doesn’t tank value that much.

2 is a funny way to spell 4 (27 -23)

Yeah I was a year off. Lauri just turned 27, Jaden is almost 24. It’s about 3 and a third.

Markkanen was selected 7th in the 2017 NBA draft. Jaden was drafted 28th pick in the 2020 NBA draft. Ignoring positions (which really don’t mean much beyond the draft year,) that is 3 full seasons of time for Markkanen to develop that Jaden has not had yet. If you subtract Markkanens last 3 seasons from his resume the results are striking. So maybe don’t assume Jaden McDaniels is done developing.