Someone save Markkanen

[badpotato]

Other than the top 10 guys of the league, which the Spurs will probably not get, Markkanen is pretty much the best fit they could get. They need spacing, shooting and a PF. Markkanen is the best in the league in that category. I definitely think Markkanen would elevate this Spurs offense on another level, as much as nobody outside of the top 8-10 guys in the league can.

He's not good enough on defense to cost this much, I'd rather have Jaden McDaniels+ someone else for the same price.
I've also wondered if there was ever a pathway of returning ATL picks for JJ - this ship have sailed though.

He's also not bad enough to not be able to be hidden by Wemby on defense. By having the potential GOAT defender, you dont need 5 plus defenders in all positions. Markannens offense is worth much more to Spurs than a worse offensive player but slightly better defender. Spurs need more offense and more reliable scorers. Not more defense

Agree to disagree - I think we need players who can help hold the fort down while Wemby rests just as much as we need extra offense - our defense disintegrates when Wemby sits.

I don't think the Spurs will be willing to cough up enough assets to meet the asking price Ainge will demand.

[ShootersShoot]

Nah its because he got to develop as a go to option and continue to play that role that he was able to make that much money in the first place. And honestly he is putting up numbers where the contract cant really be criticised too harshly.

[The Laker Kid]

Lakers. Their cellar is missing a Sauvignon Blanc.

[TheGOATWill]

I'm sure Ainge is aingeing as hard as he can in search of the gobert package holy grail. I just don't think it's out there. Who is one piece away, has an all-in amount of picks plus 40-ish mil in expiring or otherwise flippable contracts?

Do you think the Spurs are one piece away is the question.

The Spurs are the obvious one. But they have old school management that isn't exactly known for looking out of house for talent or mortgaging the future. Are the Pistons ready to go for it? The 4 seed Pacers made it out of the east last year and looks just as open this year. Who does Detroit send out?

[cupcakesnake]

Knowing Ainge, his asking price is a time machine carrying 1991 Michael Jordan, and 6 unprotected first round picks.

This right here. Utah is asking the moon.

Would be a great fit in Detroit, but you don't gut a young, up and coming playoff team, loaded with talent, for Markkanen.

He is gonna rot in Utah, unless some team gives up the farm.

If Utah wants picks, and a reasonable assortment of players, fine.

Not sure how Detroit fans value their young guys. Particularly Ivey, who we just haven't seen in a minute after he looked like he was possibly starting to turn a corner.

I'd probably rank Detroit's young guys like this:
1. Cade
2. Ausar
3. Duren
(the guys above are the ones I wouldn't entertain in trade discussions for Markannen).
4. Ivey
5. Holland
6. Beef Stew
HM: Bobi

Ivey is good enough, and Holland is intriguing enough to have trade value. If Utah asked for one or both of them, combined with Tobias Harris' salary, how would you feel going into that negotiation? Consider also that Utah has a ton of young pieces, and might ship some of them with Markannen.

[JustBuzzin]

Lauri to Lakers
LeBron to Cleveland
Garland/picks to Utah

[Fantastik_Goat]

Tall Levine doesn’t need saving. He is what he is.

[JujitsuFlip]

Lauri to Lakers
LeBron to Cleveland
Garland/picks to Utah

Cavs as a 2nd apron team cannot take back 1 penny more than they send out.

LeBron's $52,627,153 is way more than Garland's $39,446,090.

[zeebneeb]

Knowing Ainge, his asking price is a time machine carrying 1991 Michael Jordan, and 6 unprotected first round picks.

This right here. Utah is asking the moon.

Would be a great fit in Detroit, but you don't gut a young, up and coming playoff team, loaded with talent, for Markkanen.

He is gonna rot in Utah, unless some team gives up the farm.

If Utah wants picks, and a reasonable assortment of players, fine.

Not sure how Detroit fans value their young guys. Particularly Ivey, who we just haven't seen in a minute after he looked like he was possibly starting to turn a corner.

I'd probably rank Detroit's young guys like this:
1. Cade
2. Ausar
3. Duren
(the guys above are the ones I wouldn't entertain in trade discussions for Markannen).
4. Ivey
5. Holland
6. Beef Stew
HM: Bobi

Ivey is good enough, and Holland is intriguing enough to have trade value. If Utah asked for one or both of them, combined with Tobias Harris' salary, how would you feel going into that negotiation? Consider also that Utah has a ton of young pieces, and might ship some of them with Markannen.

My issue immediately begins with this;

Is Markkanen a legit 2nd option to Cade, or is he more suited as a 3rd guy? I feel he's more of a 3rd guy, and his salary is massive.

3 for 1 is steep, add in picks and im out.

[Johnny Tomala]

He chose the money, he doesn't need to be saved.

Thread should end at this post. I don't feel sorry for him at all.

[babyjax13]

Knowing Ainge, his asking price is a time machine carrying 1991 Michael Jordan, and 6 unprotected first round picks.

This right here. Utah is asking the moon.

Would be a great fit in Detroit, but you don't gut a young, up and coming playoff team, loaded with talent, for Markkanen.

He is gonna rot in Utah, unless some team gives up the farm.

If Utah wants picks, and a reasonable assortment of players, fine.

Not sure how Detroit fans value their young guys. Particularly Ivey, who we just haven't seen in a minute after he looked like he was possibly starting to turn a corner.

I'd probably rank Detroit's young guys like this:
1. Cade
2. Ausar
3. Duren
(the guys above are the ones I wouldn't entertain in trade discussions for Markannen).
4. Ivey
5. Holland
6. Beef Stew
HM: Bobi

Ivey is good enough, and Holland is intriguing enough to have trade value. If Utah asked for one or both of them, combined with Tobias Harris' salary, how would you feel going into that negotiation? Consider also that Utah has a ton of young pieces, and might ship some of them with Markannen.

Don't want Duren at all, don't want Ivey, don't want Stew. Holland is interesting enough, but the primary thing I would want is picks.

[tmorgan]

I just don’t see a Lauri to Detroit trade at a price that both teams would be OK with, unless the Utah FO likes Ivey a lot more than I personally do.

Ivey’s been put in a tough spot. The team continues to win at a rate without him that it couldn’t do with him playing. There’s a ton of noise in that “fact”, but it’s still a fact. We need shooting, and Ivey’s mini-season last year was really good shooting, but you can’t count on that being 100% real. Otherwise, the defense has been better without him, and that’s been the primary factor in Detroit’s resurgence.

I don’t see Langdon parting with Holland, our youngest guy and TL’s only pick of significance in two drafts. Certainly not Ausar, and unless the deal also includes Kessler, we can’t give up Duren. That leaves Tobias (which only covers about 60% of Lauri’s salary), Ivey, picks, and stuff no one really cares about. Bobi sucks. Lanier isn’t likely to turn into anything. Sasser’s OK but carries only marginal value.

There’s just nothing to make a trade here unless Utah likes Ivey or Langdon is willing to trade Holland (I sure hope not). Nothing about Langdon’s demeanor suggests a willingness to trade a big pick package for a guy that’ll cause future cap problems in Detroit.

[Chuck Everett]

Paid too much to not be our best player, so in Utah you shall remain.

[UcanUwill]

Hes a "big numbers on a bad team" type of player. Never been to the 'offs and is 28 already

Really not a ‘Chise guy. Ain’t gonna win a c’hip

Beside terrible typing, I hate these ''analyses'', guy plays on a bad team so he is bad team type of player, yeah, Lauri definitely can't be good on a good team, brilliant analysis there...

[UcanUwill]

He's not good enough on defense to cost this much, I'd rather have Jaden McDaniels+ someone else for the same price.
I've also wondered if there was ever a pathway of returning ATL picks for JJ - this ship have sailed though.

He's also not bad enough to not be able to be hidden by Wemby on defense. By having the potential GOAT defender, you dont need 5 plus defenders in all positions. Markannens offense is worth much more to Spurs than a worse offensive player but slightly better defender. Spurs need more offense and more reliable scorers. Not more defense

Agree to disagree - I think we need players who can help hold the fort down while Wemby rests just as much as we need extra offense - our defense disintegrates when Wemby sits.

I don't think the Spurs will be willing to cough up enough assets to meet the asking price Ainge will demand.

Hes not even bad on defense, like at all. People talking too much not knowing his game at all, comparing him to Lavine. Guy is a winning player stuck on shamelss tanking team, he is not rim protector, but he is not really bigman, he is forward, and his defense for a forward is actually good. He is quick athletic 7 feet forward. His main problem for being paid so much is that he never was playmaker, a lot of his career baskets are assisted and he does not generate assists himself. But his defense is good, this is people seeing white bigman shooter and just stereotyping. If anything, I would call him very highly paid 3 and D player, he always has one of the better eDIFF among Jazz players even with middling offensive rating, historically, he improves Jazz defense more than offense when being on the court. He plays defense and despite scoring a lot, he is more of a role player scorer as I said, he is improved transition player nowadays, but you need to set him up most of the time.

[cupcakesnake]

This right here. Utah is asking the moon.

Would be a great fit in Detroit, but you don't gut a young, up and coming playoff team, loaded with talent, for Markkanen.

He is gonna rot in Utah, unless some team gives up the farm.

If Utah wants picks, and a reasonable assortment of players, fine.

Not sure how Detroit fans value their young guys. Particularly Ivey, who we just haven't seen in a minute after he looked like he was possibly starting to turn a corner.

I'd probably rank Detroit's young guys like this:
1. Cade
2. Ausar
3. Duren
(the guys above are the ones I wouldn't entertain in trade discussions for Markannen).
4. Ivey
5. Holland
6. Beef Stew
HM: Bobi

Ivey is good enough, and Holland is intriguing enough to have trade value. If Utah asked for one or both of them, combined with Tobias Harris' salary, how would you feel going into that negotiation? Consider also that Utah has a ton of young pieces, and might ship some of them with Markannen.

Don't want Duren at all, don't want Ivey, don't want Stew. Holland is interesting enough, but the primary thing I would want is picks.

I doubt the Pistons would readily offer Duren, unless they dont want to pay him. I think he's in their long term plans as their starting center until further notice.

I assume the trade would be picks based, but Lauri is a lot of salary to match. Not being interested in their young guys, would just mean taking guys like Duncan Robinson or Caris Levert. If I were Utah, and I thought Detroit wanted Markannen, I'd be trying to get the younger guys in the deal as much as possible.

Lauri's contract does limit his market. 46m this year, 53m all the way in 2029. For a good trade to happen, Utah needs a trade partner that has assets, and is willing to commit to Lauri taking up a huge chunk of their cap. Lauri and Cade together is 100m all by themselves. That would be the reason Detroit doesn't do this deal.

Not saying you definitely want to trade Lauri, but if one were to want to, Detroit is the exact kind of team you'd want as a trade partner. They have all their picks. If teams like Detroit aren't interested, your only suitors are teams like Milwaukee and Miami, who are a little more limited.

[Onus]

He chose the money, he doesn't need to be saved.

This. He knew what he was signing for. If he wanted to compete he could've picked the FA route. Im pretty sure some good team would sign him for 4 years max. I'm not saying he did wrong in taking the money(I would've do the same), but he cant play the victim card.

He could have also signed a contract that was more tradeable.

The warriors were serious about trading for him and all Lauri had to do was exert a little bit of pressure on Danny and that deal would've gone through, but Lauri wanted to be in Utah so he could sign an extension and get his money. Don't feel bad for Lauri at all. This is what he wanted.

[chilluminati]

Love the idea of Lauri as a Piston, but I can't part with the names we'd have to give up for him. Plus, he makes 1st option money under this current CBA, which limits the teams that are willing to even entertain a trade. Teams are no longer handing out 40-50M+/year contracts to 2nd options anymore. I feel like if we made a deal for Lauri, we wouldn't be in the drivers seat during negotiations and Utah would definitely win in the end. I'll pass on falling into an Ainge-trap. We'd lose a bunch of promising youth/picks, in return for Lauri and a very unsure window where we have to start thinking about "winning now".

Lets get this out of the way first, absolutely no to Ausar being in any trade. Period.

As for the rest, Holland's and Stew's motor on defense is something our team cannot go without, and I wouldn't be willing trade Duren if our offense maintains its current trajectory. It's also a bad CBA move to trade young assets for a big contract, especially when team defensive impact would be greatly reduced.

Ivey is still worth waiting on, he's coming back within this month sometime and will have the rest of the season to prove that he's worth matching in RFA this summer. 40% from 3 last year before he went down. If he can improve on or maintain that, he's all but guaranteed a spot in this teams future. He's also the solution the Dennis Schroder/Caris Lavert problem too. So I'm really hoping things pan out with him.

I'm all in on the youth. I don't think trading for a big name is the call. Even if we made a trade, I don't want the ball taken out of Ausar, Ivey or Holland's hands any more than possible. We need these guys to develop and learn how to be more effective half court players, as our sole focus as a team in the half court is very limited and exclusively ran through Cade. Our break offense is fantastic, league leading. I have faith, because these young guys already have the hard part figured out(motor/defense), they just need to keep improving now.

[John Murdoch]

Minnesota would be a nice fit imo...prob instantly become there best floor spacer

[tamaraw08]

Paid too much to not be our best player, so in Utah you shall remain.

They will be stuck in Purgatory for the next 5-7 years then.
Right now they are tied in 10 place ahead of the Kings, Mavs, Grizzlies and Pelicans.