NBA Trade Rumors: 2 Teams In Battle To Land Laurie Markkanen From Utah Jazz

Laurie Markkannen is one of the splashiest names on the trade block this offseason, though it will take a huge haul to pry him loose from Danny Ainge and the Utah Jazz.

But there are two prominent teams to watch in the battle to try to land Markkanen, according to insider Chris Haynes.

The 26-year-old broke out big-time in the 2022-23 season upon his arrival in Salt Lake in a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Markkanen went from a 14-point-per-game guy to a 25 ppg guy overnight. He had a great follow-up season this year as well.

Let's have a look at the two most serious teams trying to secure his All-Star services.

San Antonio Spurs

According to Zach Lowe of ESPN on his podcast The Lowe Post, "The Spurs are the team I would watch.”

Coach Popovich & Co. are going all-out to push the Spurs to the next level in their rebuild, now that Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama has lived up to the hype and is ready to go to another level (is that even possible?).

They already added future Hall of Famer Chris Paul to solidify their point guard spot to help Wemby grow, and adding Markkanen to take tons of offensive pressure off the Frech phenom could immediately vault them into contender status.

Golden State Warriors

"The Warriors are the aggressor in the Laurie Markkanen Sweepstakes," said Haynes this week. "They're really trying to see what they can do to make it happen."

Utah doesn't really want to trade him, says Haynes, "but they will for the right price tag." As for what that right price would be? "It would really put a dent in the Warriors roster to try to make that deal happen... But you know Danny (Ainge), he craves first-round picks."

"I'm told on a serious nature, it's those two teams. Spurs & Warriors."