The Warriors have been the “most engaged” trade suitor for Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen this offseason, but the two teams are divided on what a potential Golden State package would look like, writes Shams Charania of The Athletic.
According to Charania, the Warriors have discussed an offer that would center around Moses Moody and a number of draft assets, including multiple first-round picks, multiple second-rounders, and multiple pick swaps. However, Utah has sought “the bulk of young talent and capital” Golden State controls, including Brandin Podziemski and Jonathan Kuminga in addition to Moody and draft assets. Sources tell Charania that idea has been a “non-starter” for the Warriors.
Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram is another notable name still on the trade market, but teams around the league believe his market is limited, according to Charania, since some potential suitors (including the Kings and Spurs) made moves for other forwards and most other teams aren’t looking to make a major trade at this point in the offseason. If the market for Ingram remains quiet, New Orleans could assess its current group to open the regular season before deciding whether a trade is necessary, Charania suggests.
With most of the NBA’s other teams focused on tweaking their rosters around the edges, one high-ranking team official told Charania, “It might be one of the more quiet summers.”
Here’s more from Charania:
- The Bucks are in the market for help at shooting guard and are among the contending teams pursuing Gary Trent Jr., sources tell The Athletic. However, due to its proximity to the second tax apron, Milwaukee is limited to a minimum-salary offer, and one recent report suggested that Trent isn’t interested in accepting a minimum deal. The Bucks are hosting a free agent workout this week in Las Vegas, Charania notes, with Will Barton expected to be among the participants.
- While there has been no action on the Russell Westbrook front as of late, the Clippers and the former MVP still plan to part ways this offseason, says Charania. The Nuggets are considered the favorites to sign Westbrook if he reaches free agency, Charania adds, but Los Angeles is still discussing possible trades.
- The Grizzlies are exploring trade possibilities involving former lottery pick Ziaire Williams, sources tell Charania. The Grizzlies aren’t far from the luxury tax line and will likely have to shed some salary if they want to use their full mid-level exception or re-sign Luke Kennard while staying out of tax territory.
Danny is a mad man. Asking for Podz/Kuminga/Moody AND significant draft capital is super villain levels of crazy. I love it.
Danny is just saying all trades are off the table unless you giving me a offer that no GM will refuse. Reason why that rumor of Podz and draft picks was just click bait rumors. Like most rumors there is no legs to them.
He doesnt have close to the leverage he is projecting. Lauri has the same or mor.
If Markkanen wants to leave he is a expiring FA thats unrestricted. He can sign on the 7th to keep all trades off the table till next summer, or he can not sign at all and everyone in the league will know he is gone. Markkanen has no reason to get the Jazz a better deal and clean out the team he is going to. He could also publicly say that he is only willing to extend with certain teams.
In the event that they do the renegotiate and extend he may have higher value as a player under long term control, but he also will become far more expensive this season so that teams will have to match 40M+ salary as well as everything else when teams have already mostly filled their roster. If he does get extended like that my guess is they will play him this year and trade him next summer.
Markkanen has stated many times that he wants to stay. That’s why the Jazz are asking for the moon. They figure they’re at least covering the possibility of an overpay.
In reality, Lauri is exactly the kind of player they’re wanting on this rebuild. So why trade him unless it’s an overpay?
You familiar with Cooper Flagg?
Every player thinks he wants to stay after being traded, especially after being traded twice in the past year.. Markannen hasn’t sniffed the playoffs for 2 years in Utah, and he never made the playoffs in his 5 previous years at Chicago and Cleveland.
The West is increasingly competitive. 11 teams better than Utah last year, add Memphis and San Antonio this year for 13. Portland is 1 year ahead of Utah in its rebuild. Sexton, Collins, and Clarkson on the way out. It all points to Markannen being traded for assets that mature in 4-5 years, not now.
Danny has a lot of leverage. They have cap room and can just redo lauri contract and give him a huge raise before the season and still maintain control for a potential future trade. I have a feeling he is trying to get the warriors to overpay cause the teams with better packages aren’t as aggressive as the warriors are since they have steph and want to try for him (totally understandable).
His leverage evaporates though if Lauri makes one public statement about not signing an extension.
If Lauri wants to stay then its probably mutual, at least in the short term, and he wont be traded at all. If he wants to leave, or make signing an extension contingent on the team making a win now move, then Ainge will lose most of his leverage on Aug 7th and there isnt a good reason for teams like the Warriors not to wait 3 weeks before modifying any offers.
1) Lauri says he wants to stay despite the Jazz losing all those games at the end of the year.
2) When Lauri signs the extension he can’t be traded for 6 months, Feb 6th. That’s only 1 day before the trade deadline ends.
Combine these two elements and I don’t see the Jazz trading Lauri.
Warriors won’t overpay. I believe Kuminga knows this is his team when Steph is gone. Podz and Kuminga are most likely starters. Moody is one thing. But I’m okay with none of this happening.
Unless you just not want Lauri to leave, why would you “love” that massive overpay that is never going to happen?
Because the over pay will happen. So please stop saying the warriors are getting lauri because its a dream and nothing more. Ainge doesn’t make deals he is in the job to rip off over teams with a huge over pay.
Ainge has to trade Lauri if he doesnt extend him. Only a few teams have deep coffers of picks to make a godfather offer and BRK looks uninterested having just started a rebuild, and OKC who was the real threat have gone other ways that pretty much take them out of it. The Spurs have some good draft assets from other, but Spurs picks are worthless compared to GSW since people think with Wemby those picks will be in the 20s at best. The Rockets have picks, but also a lot of future salary already on the team and may not want to pay all of them and Markkanens next deal. GSW picks after Curry retires are super valuable and they have a full assortment since they can still trade the 2030 pick 1-20 where if it conveys to WAS it wasnt super valuable anyways.
Almost every contender outside the 76ers and GSW have already traded all the picks they can PHX/DAL/LAC/MIL/NYK/MIN/CLE/DEN/IND/MIA/SAC all have limited or no draft assets available. There are a bunch of rebuilding teams that are asset rich, and a bunch of contenders that have already made the big move and depleted the cupboard.
Not sure who is making a godfather offer who fits in the venn diagram of still has picks and wants to get better now.
Ainge wants young talent not picks.
I doubt it. Unless he thinks Clarkson/Sexton/Collins are the secondary pieces of a champion core. Nobody is trading Wemby or Cooper Flagg to them so you have to tank in order to draft premium core talent.
They arent in the part of the rebuild where they are looking for other interesting young pieces to try around a good core. Utah is at the point where they need to find the franchise piece or two to start to build around, and that only really comes in the draft.
Don’t doubt it understood it. What Ainge asked from the warriors and maybe read his ask. Utah is awash with picks and certainly do not need the meager offering of the dubs.
It’s just as crazy as GS thinking they can get Lauri and keep Podz and Kuminga.
The fact that they thought an offer of moody and draft capital would start the conversation is hilarious. What an unbelievably weak offer
Nothing is surprising Warriors willing to give up a few assets and Utah wants a entire team of young players and every draft pick. Warriors are not getting him because the price is way too expensive. No GM in their right mind would give up that much for 1 player. Utah is going to get nervous when he turns down a extension unless its $200 million extension. Will they offer that much?
Ok Warrior fans stop saying the Warriors will pick up Lauri because no GM unless they are drunk would even consider making a offer for him. Utah doesn’t want to trade him. Brandon is not going to the warriors because Kerr doesn’t like his terrible defense. Warriors are going with they have until trade deadline and if a big man becomes available for the right price.
I was going to say, I feel like the trade deadline would be better leveraged since injuries happen and some teams will want to purge salaries if their team is better off tanking.
I do agree with this, if Ainge is going to be a loser and not make the deal via requesting that the return be idiotically-large, then GSW should just wait and make an in-season deal, hopefully sending Wiggins and GP2 out.
“if Ainge is going to be a loser”
How is Ainge a loser for doing his job and wanting the best return possible for the team he’s running lol.
From your reply to Gary below… “You cant have it both ways”
Dude your homerism knows no bounds lol, one minute you’re acting like Podz is this great trade piece then the next you’re knocking the guy and saying Moody is so much better. You should probably take your own advice.
One year under contract unrestricted next summer, and he can choose to extend or not…
I don’t see GS & Utah both agreeing on a deal that works for Markkanen when the Dubs are over the 2nd apron and all normal trade avenues are now restricted.
No aggregating salaries, no using any existing trade exceptions, can’t send out a single penny more than they take back and can’t take/send any cash in trade.
As a Celtics fan that watched Danny Ainge run things in Boston for a very long time, the guy is more miserly than Scrooge McDuck and any Dubs fan thinking that they’ll watch GS get one over on Ainge will be sorely disappointed. Just look at the Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and the KG/Paul Pierce trades as proof of this.
The only way that he hands over his best trade asset will be in a deal where everyone sees that its a complete overpay by the team acquiring Markkanen.
Well Erik like us warriors you will see all the bandwagon fans coming out of the woodwork since Celtics won a championship. You will know them by saying lets go all in for this one big super star. I can always tell a bandwagon warrior fans when they think every big star is coming to the warriors.
I don’t pay any attention to who someone thinks is a bandwagon fan or not, I honestly could not care less.
As for Boston, the team doesn’t need to add any one superstar seeing that they’re returning their top 10 rotation players and the core is all locked up for the foreseeable future.
My comment (and apparently your reply to WB above) are both related and aimed toward a certain GS fan here that thinks that Mike Dunleavy Jr is just going to pants Danny Ainge, steal his lunch money and return the Dubs to Masters of their Universe. I’m just saying Danny will never let that happen.
I agree with everything you said. Ainge is not trading unless he gets something so crazy that you can’t pass it up. Celtics did a great job with locking up their core. Other teams should notice since they are able to have big stars and staying within budget.
Its going to get REALLY expensive for them over the next few years and will be interesting to see how long that they’ll be willing to spend into the tax. At least for this season they’ll be mostly running it back.
No one is saying MDJ is going to “pants” Ainge, the issue is 1 year of Lauri isnt as valuable as Ainge thinks, Ainge should be targeting Podz and 3 firsts and pick swaps for Lauri, which is 1 year of Lauri’s actual-value.
“the issue is 1 year of Lauri isnt as valuable as Ainge thinks,”
He extends Markkanen and his trade value goes up. I like Podz but there are likely better offers out there.
I feel like it all depends on if Markkanen signs his extension or not and when he signs it (Aug 6th or 7th) … it’ll probably influence Ainge to either move him now or just keep him on the team until next year.
Plus in the article, they talk about his extension (if he wants his max value), the Jazz would need to bump up his salary another $15M this upcoming year (they are already sitting at $150M … not sure if the owners would want to spend $165M+ penalties for a tanking team)
It’s all interesting to see!
Fair points. I think that Ainge and the Jazz ownership would be willing to spend into the tax for one year if it means that they get a Mitchell/Gobert type of return for Laurie once he becomes tradable again.
They could always move off some other player’s salary by including one of their lesser picks if money really became an issue. Its not like their top players are making untradable salaries: Collins is at 25M, Markkanen & Sexton at 18M each and Clarkson at 14M.
If Markkanen signs the 7th he cant be traded till next summer.
If they use space to bump him up then he becomes less valuable this season and harder to match salary for.
Tax is calculated at the end of the season not the beginning so trading out some of the vets can effect this. Also they have cap room available in order to bump him up, so they may have to renounce or stretch some salary in order to bump him up, and it cant take them into the tax since bumping him up requires room which means after they are still 35M below the tax
Only 3 Boston players are locked up beyond this season: Tatum, Brown, and White. That’s almost $150M for 3 players starting 2025-2026. It’s the peak of the cycle.
The Warriors are actually hard-capped at the first apron, so they’re restricted in some ways (they’re close enough to their hard cap that they can’t really take on more salary than they send out) but most of those restrictions you mentioned (aggregation, TPEs, trading cash) don’t apply to them.
I stand corrected on that part. I was going by their Spotrac total cap allocations number but I didn’t account for their cap holds.
I still stand by my point about Danny Ainge though. He has zero reason to trade Laurie Markkanen and if chooses to do so then they’ll be plenty of other takers out there that could offer a better package than GS.
Unless Lauri doesnt want to stay in Utah after his 1/18M left………..
CV, all the reports that I’ve read all say that he likes playing for the Jazz and his family loves living in Utah. That could obviously change but so far everything points to him wanting to stay.
If I had to predict how his situation plays out, its probably going to be him signing an extension over him hitting UFA next offseason.
Even if the Jazz sign him then wait a year before he could be traded they’re likely looking at a much better return for him in that scenario.
They are not a winner now and wont be anytime soon. I have to think that it matters the team has no star outside him and a lot of draft picks several years from now that are good. Like MIN/CLE picks arent good the next 2 years but the late ones are. So I assume he cares about winning.
I honestly dont know where they are going since they have a roster that doesnt make sense for now or the future.
The most obvious reason to trade him is that this draft and the next one are stacked and you have to get worse so your not always picking 10th and not getting franchise talent. They either need to get better or get worse this offseason, and why would you try to claw your way into contention with the 13 other western teams trying to make the playoffs when this group of players will never be that good.
Dude you keep arguing for some reason when none of us knows what is going to happen.
Danny Ainge ran my favorite team for a very longtime so I like to think that I have an educated opinion on how he handles these things and I don’t see him letting his best available player trade asset leave for anything less than Ainge thinks he’s worth. Imo, Podz and three firsts aren’t going to be enough. If he gives Laurie up its going to be for an overpay.
Whether Laurie gets traded this offseason/trade deadline or not remains to be seen. Or whether he signs an extension or not is too.
Regardless Danny will do what he thinks is best for his team no matter what any of us on some hoops rumors site think.
Danny Ainge got some really good deals a while ago, and has a reputation for asking for a lot. That doesnt change the fact that the league values talent differently than it did 5 years ago, and a lot of teams are already done with this years business.
If he cant extend Lauri then he doesnt get to choose if he leaves he just gets to choose if he lets him leave sooner for something or later for nothing.
He didnt get much in the Vando MC deal compared to expectations.
Teams with picks to make godfather offers are rebuilding and not in the market for Lauri, and teams looking to add win no pieces already gave up all they had. We are in a weird place where all the win now contenders have already used everything they have.
If the price gets to good to be true lots of teams will be in, but at full price who are the Warriors bidding against? The Spurs and back of the first picks for the next decade thanks to Wemby!
Best trade partners are Jazz/Nets/Thunder/Wizards/Blazers/Hornets nobody else has much draft capital and none as valuable as GSW picks 3+ years out. Thunder dont want to pay Lauri along with everyone else thats going to need raises and already made theyre big moves. Every other team that has picks is rebuilding and not in the market for a prime player about to get a max deal.
Cmon dude, you keep making it sound like Utah is in this dire situation in regards to Laurie Markkanen. when that is so far from the actual reality here.
Ainge could trade him this offseason, or at the deadline or do a sign & trade next offseason. The team can extend Laurie sooner ,or later, if the two sides eventually decide to go that route. And before you try telling us all again that Laurie could just make one statement saying he won’t extend with Utah, sure that could happen but there are plenty of reports talking about how happy he is playing & living in Utah, asking out would just paint him in a bad light especially when he’s in a contract year. Again, could it happen? Sure. Will it happen? Probably not so enough with the doom & gloom already.
Vando’s trade value wasn’t even in the same ballpark as Markkanen’s so that one is totally irrelevant. He’s not even close to being a comparable type of talent either.
Ainge has a history of dealing away All-Star caliber players and getting a high end return for whoever he sends out. Markkanen fits that bill, Vando not even close.
And yes, we all know which bad teams own plenty of draft capital, you’ve mentioned that part more than once on this article already. You conveniently leave out plenty of other teams that own the picks and possible young players that could possibly make a competitive offer to Ainge. (This isn’t me asking for you to list more so please don’t bother.)
This is my last reply to you simply because you keep commenting as if its your opinion alone that has any bearing here on this subject when in reality, its only an opinion. Nothing. More.
The warriors are no longer over the 2nd apron after letting waiving CP3 and letting Klay walk. In fact, they aren’t even over the first apron, nor can they, after having two sign and trades and using the non-taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception. They are now hard-capped at the first apron.
The Warriors are not above the second apron they are below the first…
Lauri is expiring so you extend him or you move him no other options…
It’s been clear for at least a year that it’s Moody the Warriors want to get rid of. Not Kuminga and not Podski.
Moses Moody is the player with the low ceiling and limited upside. You would think from watching him that he’s oozing with talent and you’re probably right, but there’s something that is preventing him from exploding. Maybe it’s mental, maybe it’s desire, who knows, but it’s something?
So it’s Wiggins first, Gary Payton second, Moody 3rd, Looney 4th. That’s the pecking order they would attempt to trade away.
Payton and looney are gone after next year. Moody its a make or break season for him. Wiggins its up to him to be the player he can be. Seeing him at the summer league game is good to see. Just no more excuses and play close to a whole season.
Moody has a higher ceiling than Podz, Moody has already locked down several superstars defensively, had a 30 point game, and played on a championship team. Utah wants GSW’s best players, they are targeting Moody. You cant have it both ways, either Ainge is a genius and knows the players better than you, or Moody has a higher ceiling than Podz, who everyone but you can easily see is handicapped by his size on defense.
What exactly did Moody do to make you hate him and massively underrate him so much? You do the opposite for Podz?
Podz > moody any day of the week. Look how last night he was the best player on the court in summer league game. If moody is as good as you say he would have been traded for a good player by now.
Moody has a ring as a member of a championship team. Podz lights up preseason. These guys are not the same. Why are you acting like they are?
Show me Podz’ 30 point games and show me where he locked down superstar scorers. File 404 not found.
Podz would be best served as a starting PG on a bad team, like Utah. We have Steph Curry, we have no need for Podz, and we didnt make the playoffs due specifically to Podz seeing too much court time. Cant say that about Moody.
“we didnt make the playoffs due specifically to Podz seeing too much court time.”
They didn’t win a championship specifically due to Moody either. He was just a role player on a team that had a HOF core. Moody was a passenger not a driver.
Look at any advanced stats dude SMH Podz was one of the best on off guys in the entire NBA…
If Moody was soooooo goood he would already be playing. Its not all his fault since Podz is a playmaker which they only have 3 of and Moody is a wing that they have like 8 of not all of which fit on the court together. He is screwed by the team depth.
Davey J and the bad take express!
If this ends the trade rumors of Lauri to Warriors. I am very happy. Let Ainge build around him until he demands a trade.
Acting like a championship revolved around a young player who barely played in the Finals is one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever read on here. You’re giving Sillivan a serious run for his/its money lol.
Moody does have a good reputation among Warriors coaches and generally in nba. He is talented, coachable, hard working, a great team player. He is only 22 and has huge upside potential. He will have solid nba career. Problem is first he hasnt had oppotunity to play and develop due to playing for contender and injuries. He finally was in the rotation last yr but he got injured and and just couldnt get his rhythm back until season end. He really should have played ahead of vets like Klay, GP2, Wiggins. His second major problem is his CONTRACT situation. He will get a huge raise in one year and thus his value is lower than Podz gor example. That being said Moody, Kuminga, Podz, and everyone else on the team have first half to increase their trade value(this includes 3 new acquisitions). If Warriors are not winning they will sell like craze and gather assets.
The Jazz don’t need any of those players. That’s why I didn’t see a trade happening with the Warriors.
Only Kuminga, and somewhat Pod, move the needle.
While I love Moody and Kuminga and dont want them to go, I would put this offer on the table: Podz, Moody and 2 firsts for Lauri, and then jettison Wiggins and GP2 for better-fitting players to get under the tax aprons
You dont understand the value of players, NBA contracts, NBA rules, and seem to have a super NBA twitter opinion of most players that shows you dont watch enough to get it…
Why would it be worth it to Utah to trade their best player for three firsts and Moody? Utah has plenty of firsts and Golden State just acquired Anderson, Melton and Held so Moody isn’t even a rotation player for the Warriors, on top of that Utah would have to decide if Moody’s worth extending or giving the qualifying option to.
Because hes in his walk year and all other win now teams have no draft picks left….
OKC is not in at all as far as I can tell even if I think Markkanen instead of IH would have been a much better team.
So what if he’s in his walk year. They can just resign him. His trade value isn’t going down, if anything with a commitment his trade value goes up. He’s not walking because Utah has his Bird rights and only they can pay him. Utah should just start the season with him and if they like the way the team’s playing try to cash in some of their picks for another good player around the deadline, if not then trade him for somebody better than Moody.
If I am Danny Ainge I tell the Warriors that any deal starts with Kuminga. The additional players and picks that come with him can be negotiated. Making a low ceiling player like Moody the center piece of an offer is an insult.
Moody is just a marginal asset in the trade the center piece is GSW unprotected 1sts that are after Curry/Green retire…
Would anyone trade prime LeBron for prime Kevin Love? Because that is what trading Kuminga for Markanen would be. There are only 2 players I would trade Kuminga for straight up – Giannis and Jokic. If a deal doesn’t happen then stupid Danny Ainge is going to regret not taking Moody who is seen by many experts as a young Kawhi Leonard.
At this point in his career Kuminga is pretty much where Markannen was at before Utah traded for him. The kid screams potential and has shown what he can be in bursts but has never done it consistently. If any one compares a guy like Moody that won’t even play regular minutes in Golden State’s rotation next season to Leonard you’d have to seriously doubt their intelligence let alone their expertise.
I could see the warriors and heat being a couple of teams in on Ingram, or Cam Johnson…otherwise, both those teams are pretty much done for the offseason in similar positions to the first apron
Ingram and Kerr do not get along. Kerr benched in him WC because of his bad defense
He benched him b/c they had too many guys that needed the ball in their hands, and it made more sense
Brandon said he doesn’t fit Kerr’s system and is not fond of playing for Kerr. So there is 0 chance the warriors trade for him.
Have you re-thought Ware yet? Im getting FOMO over here, dude looks AMAZING
*So jealous Of Heat everything’s from Summer league , yall running pro sets with Ware double screen and rolling while we have a Pg from 24 hr fitness, and couldnt find a coach to coach our team in time ….SMH…….Knechts been awesome but Id trade him for Ware today in a heartbeat. Hes showed so much of his bag already, farther along then any of us thought
Hes a big that’s potentially useful in certain matchups. In certain lineups off the bench, in certain situations when Bam is either injured or not on the floor. Same as I said…
It’s summer league. You’re looking for certain things more than results. I’m slowly catching up on these games, so I can’t say too much more yet, but so far, the players I’ve seen have been what I expected