HadAnEffectHere wrote:Cappy_Smurf wrote:One_and_Done wrote:Agreed. As usual, Ainge has overplayed his hand. His value has gone down alot, and I doubt the Spurs pay that much for a soon to be 28 year old who hasn't been that great this year.
Ainge hasn't overplayed anything. Lauri and Kessler are still in Utah because Utah sees them as keepers going forward. Any assumptions otherwise on your part is just your poor understanding of the situation.
There is essentially no chance the Jazz can build a contending team while Markkanen is still a valuable player. Young players just take way too long to develop and the Jazz have no trade assets other than their pick this year, the Suns 2031 pick, and Kessler.
The latter part is a bit of a stretch. If the plan is to build through the draft (and I hope it is) I agree that keeping Lauri doesn't make a ton of sense. But Utah does, factually, have a ton of trade assets. We easily have the ability to put together a pick(s) based package that is as strong as any other team in the league w/exception to OKC + have enough picks left over to be competitive should another very good player become available. e.g., we could have easily exceeded the value that was paid for Fox this season while still having enough assets to get a similar or better player in the offseason. Not saying that is the direction we should go - I support trading Lauri for assets at this point and just lean into the rebuild since we just have guys that look like future role-players (and some likely not even that).
