Ainge just got promoted from bad GM to horrible ..

[MalonesElbows]

The Jazz brass said from the outset they view any deal as a 10% of happening.

Lo Wang's translation....
Why would Markannen stay with a team desperately trying to get rid of him?

[Dick Tate]

In the poll, I selected "Other" since "Is OP a joke at this point?" wasn't an option.

[cdubbz]

Warriors fans are upset because MDJ didn't give up Podziemski & picks for Lauri, but i'm glad he didn't give in to the request.

Jazz want to tank to get high draft picks and by keeping Lauri they're probably not going to be a bottom 4-5 team. They can still obviously win the lottery, but they're paying big bucks for a guy on a lottery team when they could have gotten lesser players and draft capital from teams.

[Clemenza]

On the side I'm seeing all this Utah "can't attract stars" talk. Stars like who? Sure Bron, KD, Curry, etc. aren't signing there, but they're almost done career wise anyway. Tatum & Brown aren't leaving Boston anytime soon and the same can be said for Luka, Edwards, Haliburton, SGA, Maxey, Wemby, JA Morant, etc. in their respected cities. I think that (insert non popular city) can't attract stars thing is dead for the simple fact that literally actual superstars might be over with post Bron, Curry, and KD.. and these young kids don't care where they play as long as its an NBA team and they're paying millions of dollars.

[babyjax13]

The rumor in the Thunder camp is he wanted 4 first rounders 2 second rounders and either Chet, Jdub, or Shai or 2 role players like Wiggins, Joe, Nikola Topic or Dort. Negotiations went nowhere and he was forced to sign an extension.

Funny thing is, the Utah fans are celebrating this as a win when he has absolutely no intention of keeping Markannen. He's only extending him to give himself more time until a team dumb enough to bite, which probably will not happen because everyone knows his shenanigans.

Note* Why would Markannen stay with a team desperately trying to get rid of him? As a Thunder fan, I don't want him anymore. Way too soft.

If I worked for a company, even though I know they want to get rid of me, but they instead offered me a $238 million contract, I think I'd take the money too.

Other teams can offer him a bit less but he can still keep his dignity.

Markannen has no fight in him.

Lauri got a $24 million raise this year. Other teams factually could not offer him more, and in the next 5 years the only way to earn more would have been a 2 year deal with Utah followed by a multi-year max contract with the cap having risen 20%. However, there is always the risk of injury or not getting the same contract. He has locked in almost the most money he can get in that period, with a massive raise right now (so, factor in interest on his earnings over that time). I think his dignity is fine.

[Jabroni Lames]

OP is a joke.

Ainge is responsible for building 2 NBA championship teams. There are only 6 NBA franchises that have won more than 2 championships in their entire history. They'd love to have a horrible GM like Ainge.

[xchange55]

The rumor in the Thunder camp is he wanted 4 first rounders 2 second rounders and either Chet or Jdub

Calling BS on this rumor. Chet for LM would not even happen 1 for 1 - include any junk fillers for salary match.

[payton2kemp]

The rumor in the Thunder camp is he wanted 4 first rounders 2 second rounders and either Chet or Jdub or 2 role players like Wiggins, Joe, Nikola Topic or Dort. Negotiations went nowhere and he was forced to sign an extension.

Funny thing is, the Utah fans are celebrating this as a win when he has absolutely no intention of keeping Markannen. He's only extending him to give himself more time until a team dumb enough to bite, which probably will not happen because everyone knows his shenanigans.

Note* Why would Markannen stay with a team desperately trying to get rid of him? As a Thunder fan, I don't want him anymore. Way too soft.

The celtics won the chip in large part because of him. They don't have Brown or Tatum without Ainge

[CS707]

This is really one of the stranger hills to die on.

[FrodoFraggins]

Because he didn’t trade Lauri for low value package? No. Thats a good GM. Now he has locked him up through his prime on a fair contract giving him a top notch trade asset/ or decent player to build around for years to come.

He's not going to build around Markannen. To build around, you will have to attract solid stars or role players to the team, and he is a failure at that, plus nobody wants to play in Utah.

Trading Markannen to play the draft and possibly get Cooper was the best option. Resigning him meant Ainge failed at his job embarrassingly.

Keep wishing for the trade that will never happen Utah fans.

4 first + 2 seconds + young star = COMPLETELY DELUSIONAL

What if there weren't any solid packages available?

This is why I voted other. If there were good/fair offers(not by Ainge absurd standards) available I think he should have made on to try and get a top 4 pick by tanking. But we have no idea if he received a fair offer.

[Drakeem]

Salty fan of a team that couldn't trade for a good player for garbage.

RealGM should have a 18 year old minimum for posting

I'm old enough to be 99% of the posters in here's grandfather, so the minimum age requirement won't apply to me. Nice try though.

Ofc I would love Markkanen, so that's why I'm so critical of Ainge. He's bad for the NBA. He reminds me of vendors who sell $20 water bottles in disaster zones. He sees a need and charges an extravagant amount playing on that need. It is unethical and pathetic. I know you young guys don't care about ethics.

As an old fart, I've learned that ethics go a longer way than sheer greed. In fact, I despise greed hence why I think what Ainge is doing is abominable.

We are talking about one basketball team trading a player to another basketball team. Your comparison falls short bc the moral issue with the $20 water is the situation he's taking advantage of. You're abusing people who are already in a terrible position. I'm not going to feel bad about people in an entertainment product fighting over draft picks, sorry. These are franchises owned by billionaires and players getting contracts in the hundreds of millions. No one is getting swindled here.

[Sealab2024]

If I'm every other team in the NBA I just refuse to do business with the guy. Just stop answering his phonecalls and consider every player on the Jazz as non existent. Guy wants to get cute, shut him down. Lauris a good player, but it's not like he's a franchise changing hall of famer.

[shrink]

The rumor in the Thunder camp is he wanted 4 first rounders 2 second rounders and either Chet or Jdub or 2 role players like Wiggins, Joe, Nikola Topic or Dort. Negotiations went nowhere and he was forced to sign an extension.

Funny thing is, the Utah fans are celebrating this as a win when he has absolutely no intention of keeping Markannen. He's only extending him to give himself more time until a team dumb enough to bite, which probably will not happen because everyone knows his shenanigans.

Note* Why would Markannen stay with a team desperately trying to get rid of him?.

First, if you were right, that the “team was desperately trying to get rid of him,” UTA wouldn’t set a high price.

Second, be skeptical when a team “leaks” a rumor like this. Their front office wants to justify to their fans why they weren’t able to bring in a key player, and a team like OKC with so many assets would be particularly likely to exaggerate the price.

Finally, sellers can set whatever price they want. They don’t have to be fair to buyers. If this rumor is even true, I think it would be like Ainge saying, “I know Markannen is a good player; I’d rather keep him, but if you are willing to overpay, then I’ll listen.”

[Lo Wang]

OP is a joke.

When I was young I've always wanted to be a comedian when I grow up.

[SelfishPlayer]

Because he didn’t trade Lauri for low value package? No. Thats a good GM. Now he has locked him up through his prime on a fair contract giving him a top notch trade asset/ or decent player to build around for years to come.

You can't build around a "decent" player...

[Slim Tubby]

To be honest I understand the logic. You don’t get players like Lauri to come to Utah ever, he’s only 26, build with him.

They tried and failed. Nobody is coming to Utah. That is not my opinion; that is a fact. This means they can't build around him.

To start over, they have to start young and tank. Why would they keep a 26 year old to rebuild? By the time the young guys are in their primes, he's an old fart on the verge of retirement.

We need to get over the idea keeping Markannen is good for the team. They already tried for a year. It didn't work.

This is quite the provincial "take" from you. Is there some long history of FAs flocking to Oklahoma?

You should start a poll: Would you rather live in Utah or OKC? ("Neither" will not be offered as an option for poll integrity purposes)

Sent from my N152DL using RealGM mobile app

[Jabroni Lames]

OP is a joke.

When I was young I've always wanted to be a comedian when I grow up.

Persistence paid off. Kudos to you for never giving up.

[Catchall]

Warriors fans are upset because MDJ didn't give up Podziemski & picks for Lauri, but i'm glad he didn't give in to the request.

Jazz want to tank to get high draft picks and by keeping Lauri they're probably not going to be a bottom 4-5 team. They can still obviously win the lottery, but they're paying big bucks for a guy on a lottery team when they could have gotten lesser players and draft capital from teams.

The Jazz aren't that shortsighted. They'll have multiple picks in the '25 and '26 drafts, including lottery picks, AND have Lauri on their roster. They see Lauri as a meaningful piece they can rebuild with. It's similar to the situation the Thunder had when they kept Shai on their roster and still drafted around him with multiple lottery picks.

You can criticize the Jazz for drafting at #10 in this past draft, but the truth is that they had multiple trade-up opportunities and they took the same guy at #10 they would have taken if they were drafting at #5. The draft is a crapshoot.

[AGE1207]

OP is a joke.

When I was young I've always wanted to be a comedian when I grow up.

So far so good…

[Lo Wang]

The rumor in the Thunder camp is he wanted 4 first rounders 2 second rounders and either Chet or Jdub or 2 role players like Wiggins, Joe, Nikola Topic or Dort. Negotiations went nowhere and he was forced to sign an extension.

Funny thing is, the Utah fans are celebrating this as a win when he has absolutely no intention of keeping Markannen. He's only extending him to give himself more time until a team dumb enough to bite, which probably will not happen because everyone knows his shenanigans.

Note* Why would Markannen stay with a team desperately trying to get rid of him?.

First, if you were right, that the “team was desperately trying to get rid of him,” UTA wouldn’t set a high price.

Second, be skeptical when a team “leaks” a rumor like this. Their front office wants to justify to their fans why they weren’t able to bring in a key player, and a team like OKC with so many assets would be particularly likely to exaggerate the price.

Finally, sellers can set whatever price they want. They don’t have to be fair to buyers. If this rumor is even true, I think it would be like Ainge saying, “I know Markannen is a good player; I’d rather keep him, but if you are willing to overpay, then I’ll give him up.”

This is the sole intelligent post I will only respond to. The rest of you are childish by resorting to insults. If I believe that Ainge is a bad GM and you happen to like him, there is no need for insults. We must get pass the notion that a disagreement equates to an insult; it is merely a different perspective. Attack the idea, not the person.

With that said, I concur with everything you have said shrink, but I am basing my argument on two established facts:

1. Ainge has already acknowledged that he cannot build around Markkanen due to his inability to attract stars or role players to Utah.

2. Point 2 corroborates Point 1: since he cannot rebuild the team with Markkanen, the only viable objective is to trade him and rebuild.

All other assertions are conjectures and uninformed opinions.

Conclusion: if he fails to execute a trade, then he is an unequivocal failure due to his unreasonable demands.

The facts support the conclusion.

We are not discussing equitable value for value trades, which are the hallmark of traditional trades; rather, we are discussing a trade so inequitable that one party is left with a disastrous roster.

This is why he has failed as GM. The Jazz should be tanking for Cooper and looking towards a rebuild because rebuilding with Markannen (who is 26) is antithetical to their goals: by the time the young guys are in their primes, he would be edging towards retirement.

I am the only one basing my argument on facts. The rest of you are just hurtling insults.