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Lauri Markkanen #23 of the Utah Jazz could be a Warriors trade target.
What timing. Just as the Golden State Warriors had seemed to find some rhythm on the floor and were close to getting a resolution off it with their biggest roster issue–namely, the future of disgruntled forward Jonathan Kuminga–star wing Jimmy Butler goes and tears his ACL, knocking him out for the remainder of this season and certainly a good chunk of next year.
Considering the fact that Butler will be 37 next time he enters an NBA game and star guard Stephen Curry will turn 38 in March, the Warriors do not have time for this kind of devastating blow. The chances of Golden State ever contending again are already slim, but without Butler, they’re none.
That’s why the Warriors might do well to end the tightrope walk they’ve been doing, whereby they try to protect future assets while, at the same time, putting as much of a contender as the team can afford onto the floor alongside Curry. Forget the assets, and the future. You’re only going to get one last push with Curry so if you’re the Warriors, the only thing to really do now is cash in all you’ve got and make a bet on the present, with Utah Jazz star Lauri Markkanen as the target.
Warriors Can Offer 3 First-Rounders for Lauri Markkanen
That’s the notion presented by longtime Warriors and Bay Area beat writer Tim Kawakami, now of the San Francisco Standard. Golden State has been protecting the three future picks they have on hand to trade, unwilling to sell out the future altogether even if it means augmenting Curry’s chances at another title. Indeed, Curry himself has said the Warriors would be unwise to dump a significant portion of the future to try to feed a good-not-great Dubs team in the present.
But Curry says things like that because he thinks logically. The Butler injury probably should snap the Warriors back to the reality that if they don’t win now, they’ll simply let Curry ride off into retirement with something of a bad taste in the mouth. Now is a good time, with Butler out, for the Warriors to be impulsive and think illogically.
They’ve had Markkanen, who is averaging a career-high 27.9 points per game, on the brain for plenty of time now.
GettyStephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.
‘How About Lauri Markkanen?’
Wrote Kawakami on Tuesday: “How about Lauri Markkanen? The Warriors came reasonably close to landing Markkanen two summers ago, before he signed his four-year, $196-million extension, but couldn’t get Utah to agree on the trade return. Basically, the Warriors didn’t want to put in all of their tradeable draft choices, then used a portion of the assets they were dangling for Markkanen to get Butler seven months later.”
Markkanen would no doubt be a good fit alongside Draymond Green, the kind of sweet-shooting big guy who could mask Green’s deficiencies. But getting him to Golden State would not be easy.
Warriors Would Sacrifice Future to Stay Afloat
For one thing, the Jazz have given no indication they want to trade Markkanen, not to the Warriors or to anyone. Markkanen has been the subject of wishful speculation from other executives around the league, and though there’s still hope that Utah will field offers for him in the coming weeks, it has not happened yet.
That could change–provided the Warriors (or somebody) pay a rather large ransom for Markkanen. Golden State would almost certainly need a third team to make a deal work, but in the end it would cost them all three first-round picks, plus Kuminga, and some combination of Brandin Podziemski, Buddy Hield and Moses Moody. Maybe even all of the above.
It’s a high price. But if the Warriors want to remain fringe contenders, they’d have to pay it.
As Kawakami wrote, “Every season is precious. Every week of basketball with Curry is precious. There’s a way for the Warriors to prove this, even after losing Butler. It won’t be painless, but nothing at the end of a dynasty ever is.”