superunknown wrote:PurpleGreenGold wrote:Onus wrote:It doesn't matter what Ainge wants, it only matters what he will take. 
The bigger issue Ainge will face is that it's becoming harder to trade big salaried players, so giving Lauri an extension does carry some risk in this 2nd apron era. No one wants to trade for Lavine. No one wants to trade for Ingram. If he gives Lauri an extension, he may have to keep Lauri for a year and it'll become even harder to trade him next year. Is Ainge really going to throw away 2 really good chances at good prospects in year 25 and 26, if he can't trade Lauri? He's been trying to trade Lauri for 2 years at an 18M contract. It's going to be even harder for him to trade Lauri at a 50M contract and he's not going to get what he wants at that contract. Making it even harder for him to tank. 
Ainge is going to take less to move off of Lauri or he's going to pay someone to take Sexton, Clarkson, Collins off of him.
MDJ just needs to stay strong. If someone outbids him fine. But Ainge wants to trade Lauri, which is why he's leaking deals and he's praying someone comes in to beat our offer. Our current offer isn't all that great unless the Jazz get really lucky in the draft. 
We probably keep our 25 pick swap, we'll probably keep our 27 pick swap. Our 26 pick should still be relatively high. The only pick of substance would be 28 and if we're offering 30 (1-20) and maybe 29 pick swap if that's on the table. So we're only really trading 2 unknown picks, if 30 is even on the table and that's 5 years out.
I'm a Jazz fan who's been lurking on this page reading other perspectives about a potential Lauri trade. Respectfully, I come in peace.
I disagree with your premise. I've seen you say that Ainge has been wanting to trade Lauri for 2 years now. That's just not true. In fact, even now, the Jazz really don't want to trade Lauri, and will be happy to resign him. But he has to listen to offers though, right? A GM would be negligent not to at least hear out another team if they are offering you the world. Since he's not really on the market, it falls on the team wanting Lauri to meet the Jazz' price. If not, that's fine no deal and we keep him.
Lauri at $50 million is not the same as Lavine or Ingram at $50 million. They are not comparable players or in comparable situations. Lauri is a player who doesn't need the ball in his hands to be effective. Every team could use a guy like that as their 2nd or 3rd best player. In fact, if the Jazz look to trade Lauri after he gets an extension, he's probably even more enticing to more teams because he's then not a 1 year flight risk. Trades are not that hard to do when you can combine a couple of $15 million dollar players with some other filler.
Lauri likes it in Utah. From what I understand he doesn't love the idea of tanking, but is willing to do what the Jazz need him to do next year so they can optimize their chances for a high draft pick (we already have 3 1sts in the 2025 draft). He just doesn't want to be in a situation of them tanking year after year.
 
you forgot to mention a little small detail: the guy doesn't play even near 70 games per season. so, in this regard, he is on the same level of lavine and ingram.
and this has to be taken into consideration when trading for a player that doesn't look like an iron man so to speak.
at the end of the day, the best ability is availability. and for a guy who in 7 years averaged 57-58 games per season, the price the jazz are asking is way too steep. it is a risk to trade for him, regardless of his current contract situation.
 
While I can appreciate that Lauri, prior to the Jazz, had a history of nagging injuries keeping him from playing, the majority of games missed in the past two seasons were purely to help the Jazz with tanking. I'm confident other teams know this as well.
-In the 22-23 season, Lauri played in 66 games, and mysteriously missed most of the last two months (11 games) of the season 
after the Jazz traded most of their vets and turned to tanking. He most certainly was not injured.
-In the 23-24 season, Lauri played in 55 games, but 
after the trade deadline where the Jazz again traded some vets and tried to tank EVEN harder than the year before, he missed most of the final two months of the season (17 games). Again, he was not injured. 
If the Jazz were in a playoff hunt in either year, he most assuredly would have played in those games. Again, if a trade doesn't end up happening, I think the Jazz are completely fine with keeping him and signing him to a long term extension. They are not under any pressure.