Jazz star Lauri Markkanen appears likely to delay signing his new extension until after Tuesday so he can ensure that he won’t be traded this season, league sources tell Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.
Markkanen will become renegotiation-eligible on August 6, which is exactly six months before the NBA’s trade deadline. Contract renegotiations trigger a six-month moratorium on trades, so if he waits until August 7 or later to accept the new deal, Markkanen can make sure that he’ll spend the entire upcoming season with Utah. Tony Jones of The Athletic previously stated that’s likely what will happen.
Veteran extensions are limited to a 40% raise in the first year, so Markkanen would normally be looking at $25,262,362 as the starting salary in his next contract. But because the Jazz still have more than $35MM in cap room, they can renegotiate his salary for 2024/25 from $18MM up to $42,176,400 and start the extension based on that number, giving him something in the neighborhood of a max deal.
[RELATED: The Complexities Of The Lauri Markkanen Situation]
With the clock ticking on Markkanen’s extension eligibility, it appears less likely that he’ll be traded before he can sign a new deal with Utah. The Jazz have reportedly been listening to offers, but have said they aren’t actively trying to move their All-Star forward.
Sources tell Fischer that the Kings and Warriors have both tried to deal for Markkanen since the start of free agency. Sacramento made “significant progress” in negotiations before trade talks collapsed in early July, Fischer adds. Golden State has also made offers for Markkanen, but Fischer’s sources say that Utah has prioritized Brandin Podziemski or Jonathan Kuminga, who are both viewed as starters for the Warriors this season.
Fischer also hears that the Spurs have expressed interest in Markkanen ever since he was a restricted free agent back in 2021, and San Antonio had hoped to acquire Markkanen in the sign-and-trade deal that sent DeMar DeRozan to Chicago that summer. The Thunder also had interest in Markkanen at the time, Fischer adds.
Fischer points out that Utah already has a large collection of first-round picks and trade swaps, so there’s limited value in acquiring more draft assets in exchange for Markkanen, a 27-year-old who’s playing at an All-Star level and wants to stay in Salt Lake City. Fischer believes that – except for the Kings – much of the trade talk surrounding Markkanen this summer has been “preliminary at best.”
Bobby Marks and Tim MacMahon of ESPN also examine the Markkanen situation, including the prospects of a last-minute trade. Their sources indicate that the Warriors and Jazz haven’t come close to reaching a deal, with one source saying Golden State is being “very protective” of Podziemski.
Sign it after August 7th so we will not see his name in rumors again for a long time. Tired of the 100s of articles saying he is going here or there.
You mean all the articles that said he wasn’t going anywhere?
80% of NBA articles are dumb articles about dumb fake trades with players everyone knows arent available.
“In this trade the Warriors deal Steph Curry”?!?? “This deal sends Brunson from the Knicks to ****”
There are some publications for the NBA that do almost no articles besides stupid trades that will never happen…
Are you comparing markkanen to curry?!?!?
read his post again.
Rockets could be a dark horse.
Smith and Jalen Green for Lauri
Jalen Green has to be in the trade package. If not, Rockets would have 3 big contracts to sign next summer: Lauri, Sengun and Green.
Run into luxury tax hell.
Yeah because teams are lining up to give you their best player for cast offs.
So it looks like with this Revelation that the Jazz want to keep Lauri Markkanen. But they also want a tank this year for Cooper.
So by not giving Lauri the extension they keep their cap space. Next summer they draft Cooper if they’re lucky, or some other very high draft pick, have tons of Cap room to bring in a new guy or two, then extend Markkanen to the money he wants.
They could also deal some draft picks to bring in another guy of consequence. If Danny Ainge does it right the Jazz could be stacked and ready to roll for 2026.
They’ll give him the renegotiation and extension, he just won’t sign it until the 7th so they can trade him this season.
I think they wanted to deal him but nobody was going to overpay for a 1 year rental UFA that cant be extended because the number will be way to low on his max extension.
I expect them to try and deal Sexton/Collins/Clarkson and Maybe Kessler before or in season to poop for Coop. I would think they would want to bottom out for this year and next while developing the draft picks they already have, and aim for two years of tanking since both 25-26 drafts are stacked top 5s. They would then be there own version of OKC in 2 years with a young core and lots of draft assets. Try to be good by 27.
Utah has a pretty solid team if they keep Lauri tbh … it’ll be interesting to see how mgmt “forces the coach’s hand” to tank for Cooper while the players are obviously trying to prove themselves.
I don’t think they’ll get a top4 pick in next year’s draft unless Ainge really forces their hand by committing to certain shenanigans. No coach (non-established) or player wants to play worse for the ownership/mgmt so that they can draft better.
I think they wanted to deal him but nobody was going to overpay for a 1 year rental UFA that cant be extended because the number will be way to low on his max extension.
I expect them to try and deal Sexton/Collins/Clarkson and Maybe Kessler before or in season to p00p for Coop. I would think they would want to bottom out for this year and next while developing the draft picks they already have, and aim for two years of tanking since both 25-26 drafts are stacked top 5s. They would then be there own version of OKC in 2 years with a young core and lots of draft assets. Try to be good by 27.
ChapmansVaccum, you’re right about 2027 being the earliest date they could contend for playofds, but keep in mind that would be year 6 of Ainge’s rebuild, 3 more years from now, and that’s unacceptable.
Ainge broke up a perrenial 55-60 win team on the rationale that it could never win a Chip. When you do that, as he told the world, you better be back in contention by year 4, with a shot to win it all by year 5. Ticket holders don’t tolerate teams that go in tank for 5 years. We’re in year 3, and it’s plain to see that the Jazz are still tanking.
How come we get stuck with the Aristotle that thinks he can predict the future when he can’t see the recent past?
The Jazz haven’t won 55-60 games since the 1999-00 season.
@garywarriorsredaoxx , that’s a LOTTA if’s! More likely they’re looking at 2028
IFF they get Cooper Flagg. Best case, assuming they finish last, is 1 in 5.
IFF they can deal their draft picks for a guy of consequence. We’ve seen that a “guy of consequence” takes a lot more than some first round picks. You also need to package promising young talent. Jazz don’t have that young talent (yet), but giving it away would kill their rebuild.
The Minnesota and Cleveland picks they got for Gobert and Mitchell project to be in the 22-30 range. They aren’t as valuable as you’d think.
My fair trade proposal
Warriors get Lauri
Jazz get Kuminga, Moody, Looney and 2031 top-1 protected First
Utah is not interested in what anyone thinks is a fair trade. They have a price and they are clearly sticking to it. That’s business. The party that has the in demand asset sets the price and if they are not motivated to sell, that price is unlikely to change.
A renegotiation precludes a trade this year, but (unless he’s getting a full max this year and during the extension) it should make his contract more attractive starting next off season. He’d have to play well, but the team could still Tank.
DXC , the Jazz have 2 major problems that make the franchise “the living dead”.
First, they are still paying Sexton, Collins, and Clarkson big money on multi-year contracts, and they can’t find other teams to take them off their hands. But, if the Jazz don’t play them, their trade value goes to zero, and they eat $65M of cap space for the next 2 years, blocking the rebuild.They’ve been unable to truly tank the last two years because they have to play these veterans.
But the bigger problem is that they’ve done a poor job drafting to date. Outside of Markkanen, they have no assets that interest other teams. Ainge has failed at his big game hunting because he has only future draft picks to offer.
The first problem might arise because Ainge doesn’t (or at least didn’t) have any real experience in modern tanking vs the old school version he helped develop. In Ainge’s heyday tanking was an art form, built on plausible denial. It necessarily included at least a surface off season effort to build a real team. Modern tanking is devoid of style or illusion, it’s just a shameless year round stripping of a roster to create a losing machine. Sad, but no ping pong balls are awarded for style. But the roster remanents of a token off season building effort can cost you some.
UTH hasn’t really participated in the draft before the last two. Ainge’s overall draft history is mixed, though it’s certainly not great below the top of the lottery. I think its fair to call Hendricks (at #9) a disappointment (at least preliminarily). But his other 5 draftees can’t be called up or down yet.
The issue is not how much Utah has participated in the draft, but, rather whether Ainge has acquired a future core. He’s done 17 trades since he arrived.
He started with a top 15 player, Mitchell, with 4 years remaining under contract; the best defensive player in league, Gobert, with 3 years remaining, and a several other valuable assets, like Bogdanovich, O’Neale and Mike Conley. (The same group of 5. that finished first the year before.). Ainge promised a fast rebuild of 3 years max because, obviously, he started with a lot of value to exchange . After a succession of poor follow on tradea, and having used the first of the FRP’s acquired from Cleveland and Minnesota, here sits Utah 2 years later with, IMO, the least valuable assets in the league.
The Jazz have only 3 players that interest other teams right now:
– Markkanen (top 30 player)
– Keyonte George (solid rookie, not exceptional)
– Walker Kessler (coming off bad 2nd season)
A huge number of young players have passed with the follow on trades, but none except Kessler have stuck. Other than Keyonte, none of their current help a trade offer.
It’s nice to have FRP’s from Minneaota and Cleveland, but those teams project to finish in the top 30% for the next few years, limiting their trade value.
Finally, the 3 veteran contracts Utah has to offer are ‘negative’, meaning Utah has to provide additional value to get another team to take them.
Basically, Ainge has already failed.
$14M, $25M, and $17M are hardly big money contracts in today’s market.
We also haven’t heard any rumors that the Jazz want to trade any of them, yet. There were some awhile back about Sexton. Maybe the Jazz don’t want to trade them?
Poor job drafting? These last two years were always rated as A and B, on average. They also haven’t had a pick higher than 10 in both seasons. The year before that they had no picks.
Care to explain why your grading system is superior?
As for Big Game Hunting, everyone loves to take that out of context. Go watch that interview. He gave that as an option along with others that go with it. Essentially, the market would determine their course of action.
Besides, there hasn’t been any big game worth hunting so I hardly call that a failure. Would you pay what New York paid for Bridges? How about signing the ever injured PG13? Would you call any of the rest “Big Game”? I wouldn’t.
They have received lots of interest in their young players. They just didn’t want to include them. Atlanta, for example, wanted Keyonte in part of a trade. The Jazz said no.
Years from now we will look at how GSW overvaluing Podz and not selling high on him as what cost them several titles.
Kuminga is Him. Moody is Him. TJD is Him. GSW has 3 bullets in their chamber. All three have all-star ceilings. Adding those three to Steph and Dray makes GSW a legit contender.
Podz is not Him. Plays “shooting guard” on this team, but cant shoot or score or defend and lacks size in a game thats swinging back to being a big mans game again, umm…
“Adding those three to Steph and Dray makes GSW a legit contender.”
GS isn’t “adding” those three to Steph and Dray, they’re already on the roster and those five players weren’t good enough to get the Warriors out of the Play-In round.
@eriktheredd
I am referring to 2024-25, not 2023-24. Sorry that was not clear. Moody and Kuminga have not hit their ceilings yet, they are only going to get better and better. Also Moody was not in th
Yeah sorry but I honestly think that that 5 man lineup won’t ever come close to being a legit contender caliber starting lineup.
link to basketball-reference.com
Here are the top ten 5 man lineups that Curry played in last season and the Curry/Dray/Kuminga/Moody/TJD grouping wasn’t one of the 10. Even if we’re being extremely generous with how well that they could play together there’s still zero evidence that can prove that they would come close to playing at that type of legit contender status.
Sure maybe best-case scenario after a few seasons together where that unit starts to play together more and they steadily move up that top ten list, OK possible, but you need to remember that Curry & Green will both turn 37 & 35 by the time that the 2024-25 playoffs start. There’s a lot of miles on those threads and they’re not the same players they were just 2-3 years ago.
Curry now has to carry a much heavier load usage-wise and there’s no player currently on their roster that looks like they’re going to fill that #2 guy role after Klay has moved on. The Wiggins from 2-3 years ago might have come close but not the 2024 version and Kuminga hasn’t come close to showing that he could at least play at previous-Wiggins level.
JK will have his moments but from what I’ve seen from him since coming to the NBA, he looks like he’s maybe a 4th or 5th best player on a contender. I’d put Moody & TJD both much further down in that same rotation.
Then you have Draymond whose play has fallen off in recent years especially on defense. I do know that he shot a career high from three last season at 39% but he’s not going to start carrying their offense from three. He’s been a 1st team caliber defender for most of his career but he’s no longer that guy either.
Time is running out on these Dubs vets and coming from someone that views that team unbiasedly, they’re not even close to being the same caliber of team that they were in 2021-22. A team with all of that Finals experience couldn’t even win the one single game that could have prolonged their season against a pretty inferior opponent in Sacramento.
Kuminga will be an elite superstar, you need to watch more of him. He is Him. Even “Dollar Store Lebron” would be an all-star level talent in this league. That’s JK. Kuminga is a monster on defense and already elite there. He can handle the ball and create for others as well as himself. GSW didn’t notice how important he could be on offense until very late in the season, then they started making plays that are basically Dray/Steph/Kuminga moving towards the bucket. I believe for a long part of the season, that trio had the highest +/- of any trio in the league (but by all means fact check this).
Honestly you’re severely overrating Kuminga’s level of play, “Dollar Store Lebron” must be similar to “Baby Jordan” where neither nickname comes close to the original.
As for you’re last observation, I did fact check just using Tatum alone and he had three different 3-man combinations that were better. The Joker had four.
I get being very optimistic but you’re putting yourself so far out there that most of your predictions are honestly not coming close to actually happening.
Davey, in my previous comment I just checked Tatum & Joker’s 3-Man lineup points differential to see how comparable those lineups were to Curry/Green/Kuminga and didn’t actually go digging up the actual Plus/Minus numbers.
After doing so at the NBA website, that GS trio were ranked 77th in the NBA in Plus/Minus with a Plus 4, the top ranked trio was a Plus 13.2
link to nba.com
In what world is Moody “Him”? Only delusional Warrior fans think he is anything more than a rotational player/part time starter. You say Podziemski can’t shoot but he had a better 3p% than Moody. So I guess that means Moody can’t shoot either. But he’s “Him” LOL
@Knee cola yoke itch
Thank you for not descending into personal attacks, unlike Chapmansvacuum did, you did a poor job in refuting my point, but at least you made an attempt to use stats.
3p% means nothing if you are averaging 3 attempts a game. In your example, Davis Bertans and Kyle Korver are better than Steph Curry. Also Moody and Podz basically had the same 3p%, its negligible.
Moody is Him because he has proven he can put up 30 in a game in this league, along with playing lockdown SG defense and providing more size at SG than Podz (when playing alongside Steph). Podz has never scored 30+ nor locked any guards down defensively, in fact, he was exposed for lack of size on the regular, causing 40+ quarters, causing losses.
The problem with Podz being on GSW is this: he is a natural PG. This team has the GOAT PG. If GSW were to use Podz as Steph’s strict backup PG, I would have no issue with him, the problem is Kerr playing Podz and Steph together, along with Dray, thats too many playmakers, too many cooks. That is why they lost 15 close games and finished 10th, when if Moody got all the mins instead of Podz, they would have won those close games.
Podz had 51 games where he played between 25-39 minutes. He had 4 games over 20 points. As a SG. This is bad.
Moody had 8 games where he had between 25-32 minutes. He had 3 games over 20 points. This is a SG – and a good one.
Very basically, its Moody+Curry > Podz+Curry
Weird hill to die on regarding Moody, and it’s quite clear you’re looking to twist everything you can to validate the opinion you already have.
Saying 3P% doesn’t matter is ridiculous – especially when Moody’s lack of development on his 3P shot that has stalled his progress. Podz is already a more developed shooter and playmaker – your argument of “too many cooks in the kitchen” is ridiculous – fact is, they’ve relied on Steph creating shots too much, particularly with Klay playing poorly alongside him. Podz is a better shooter than Moody, and being a better playmaker than Moody doesn’t change it.
Maybe you’ve got some Moody trading cards that you’re hoping turn into something valuable, but the reality is, you’re one of the few people who value him above Podz. And there’s a reason for that.
Sorry but this reply is just plain and simply untrue but you have twisted some of my words here. It appears YOU have Podz cards you are holding onto, imo:
“Moody’s lack of development on his 3P shot that has stalled his progress.”
No, the arrival of Podz is what stalled Moody’s progress. But at least you admit Moody is progressing. Podz stole all Moody’s minutes and the results were underwhelming and we lost too many games. Here, lets use the actual 3p% stats:
Moody: 36% on 1.1/3.0
Podz: 38% on 1.2/3.2
To me, that is negligible. If you disagree, you are splitting hairs. I would not do that, but you are free to. Podz is 100% NOT a better shooter than Moody overall, give Moody all those minutes and you will see better numbers, as you agree with, he is improving when allowed to see the court with the main rotation guys. That’s another issue Moody haters dont understand, a lot of his worst games were him playing with 2-way and back of bench guys, not Dray+Steph, who makes everyone around them better, like they did with Podz last year, which sadly led to this massive overrating of Podz game, shown here.
The “too many cooks” refers to playmaking. Draymond and Steph are playmakers. Podz is too. Moody is not. 3 playmakers on court at the same time is too chaotic and ends up in turnovers, an issue GSW had last year, because of this. I watched all these games and this is plain and simply, true.
That’s completely ridiculous. Podz didn’t steal Moody’s minutes. No player gets a specific amount of minutes. It depends on how well you play and game situations.
Moody is in his third season already – he’s shot .364, .363 and .360 in his three seasons. He hasn’t improved his 3PT shot.
Podz shot .385 in his rookie season – 2.5% than Moody last year, despite Moody having an extra two years of development in the NBA. That difference isn’t negligible in the NBA, no matter how you want to frame it.
Moody hasn’t been exceptional as a starter or a bench guy – you’re looking to pin the blame on someone else for his lack of development, but it isn’t anyone elses fault. You’re also claiming Podz “stole Moody’s minutes” despite the fact that Moody played a career high MPG last year, and anything more than that isn’t owed to Moody. He doesn’t own those extra minutes – he simply hasn’t been given them because he hasn’t played well enough, and progressed enough, over his three years.
Also, you’re arguing that with Steph/Dray/Podz, there is too many cooks in the kitchen, despite the numbers saying otherwise:
Offensive rating w/ Podz
On court: 121.3
Off court: 115.7
Offensive rating w/ Moody
On court: 116.6
Off court: 119.2
“Too many cooks in the kitchen” according to you, despite the numbers with Podz on the court saying otherwise.
You’re claiming it’s people hating on Moody – no, it’s people calling out your irrational bias towards the guy. He may become something (maybe year 4 is his time), but he’s currently not the guy you present him to be.
That’s fine, you can have those negligible, flimsy arguments based off small samples by rookie players, but overall we are talking future and match with current team. Podz would be fine if Curry wasn’t here. I dont hate him at all, Moody has lots of haters around here by posters who literally call him “just a guy” but Moody’s best games outshine Podz ones. I will repeat my general point:
Podz had 51 games where he played between 25-39 minutes. He had 4 games over 20 points. As a SG. This is bad.
Moody had 8 games where he had between 25-32 minutes. He had 3 games over 20 points. This is a SG – and a good one.
Very basically, its Moody+Curry > Podz+Curry. We have not seen enough of Moody+Curry but we should starting next year. Then you will see my point.
Wait I thought he was going to warriors done deal??
Who said that? There is a reason why the site is called hoops”RUMORS”. 99% of it is just sportswriters looking to justify their paycheck.
Sorry if I struck a nerve…
You must have been on vacation Warriors refused the asking price a month ago.
The Warriors don’t need Markkanen to win another ring but the clueless coach who couldn’t find a few minutes for Jayson Tatum in an Olympic game against an overmatched opponent will prevent it from happening. That is because he won’t start the best 5 man lineup in the NBA that is Curry, Moody, Draymond, Kuminga, and TJD.
Really weird you keep on harping on Kerr when Team USA continues to win LOL … he could bench Tatum the entire rest of the Olympics and Team USA will still win gold.
And personally, I think Podz is better than Moody (Podz is more of a PG/SG and Moody is more of a SG/SF) in that Curry/Dray/Kuminga/TJD set.
@dezpoo Podz is pretty much a strict PG who is being forced to play SG badly due to Steph being on the team. Podz is not better at SG than Moody, Podz doesn’t do anything he a SG is supposed to do. Especially on this team, if we are using Klay Thompson in his prime as the perfect SG, Moody plays a game much more similar to that than Podz. If anything Podz plays like Russ Westbrook with less talent.
He says he wants to stay in Utah because that’s the only way he’s getting that 40m a year extension. Otherwise it would be a huge red flag that a guy is choosing a losing organization that doesn’t really have a shot at being good during his career timeline, over multiple winning organizations trying to trade for him. I would argue all the posturing about trades was to get him to accept less money, but because Ainge is a horrible GM, it backfired.
Markkanen has been traded 3-4 times? in his career already. Wasn’t he traded on draft day? I think the guy just wants to settle down and feel secure in a place he’s played the best basketball and likely reminds him of Finland. That or because he likes the family friendly atmosphere in Utah.
The trades were all coming from the outside. How is it a backfire when he never took a shot? Lol
Some of you posters are very bitter towards Ainge. Suggest you look into therapy or something. It’s affecting your judgement.
He’s been traded 3 times total.
Everyone on the Dream team played every game.
Bird, Magic, MJ and Chuck Daly found a way. I guess they dont know crap about basketball.
Yes, I think when you are up by 26 you should play everyone.
I kinda wish team USA would select the 2 best C’s, the 4 best F’s and the 4 best G’s and the rest of the team are the 6th man of the year finalists. Having an entire team of main characters causes issues. The Dream Team had Christian Laettner as a college guy they used specifically for spacing.
DXC ,. You are absolutely right about the failure to properly tank. Ainge is also limited by an unchecked ego and inability to listen to anybody else, which the Utah ownership (mistakenly) set free by giving him unlimited control. At the beginning of year 3, 2 years after senselessly blowing up a perrenial contender, we can now say no modern GM, perhaps in any sport, has done a worse job than Ainge has in Utah.
It takes extraordinary arrogance to look at perrenial contender with 2 young superstars on long-term contracts and say “blow it up, I can do better” as opposed to “my job is to make a very good team a championship team”.
Because Utah is a small market team and the ownership gave him a huge contract with no accountability, Ainge will continue to drag the franchise downward.
Again, check into therapy. Another Ainge do you wrong in the past situation?
The Jazz had no draft picks and cap space to add anymore talent to that roster. They weren’t getting better. They were regressing and bickering. The coach retired because he was worn out from it all.
Yet, you think it was dumb to reset all that?
The Jazz now have a ton of draft picks, young players, and reasonable vet contracts. Plus, they’re in position to fully tank for a true top 5 talent. I’d call that a great position!
The only failure has been these half tanks. However, outside of Wemby, the Jazz still got very good drafted players regardless.
As long as they keep wiggle room going forward then I’d say he’s still doing a fantastic job! It’s just not complete yet.
FACTS:
2021: Utah finished 1st in NBA
2022: Sign Gobert and Mitchell to 5 year deals
2022: AInge announces rebuild, promises to contend for ‘Chip in 2024
2022: Ainge trades Gobert, Mitchell, Bogdanovich, and O’Neal
2023: miss playoffs
2024: miss playoffs
2025: (this season) Ainge has failed to keep promise. Jazz have least valuable roster in NBA, and will be tanking for a few more years
AINGE DESTROYED THE FRANCHISE
The Jazz with Mitchell and Gobert had peaked, they were never a “perennial contender”. When they traded for Bogdanovìc and didn’t make it past the second round it was obvious this team had gone as far as it was going to. They still needed one more impact player and had no realistic way of acquiring one. They used all their cap space, they traded all of their assets and there was no one coming up through the system.
Now they have an All Star, some good players in Sexton and Clarkson along with tons of draft picks and tradeable contracts. Contrary to popular beliefs there are other ways to build a team beside tanking every season. The Knicks and Pacers would both be examples.
> “The Jazz with Mitchell and Gobert had peaked,
> they were never a “perennial contender”.
They finished with the best record in the NBA the previous season. Since Gobert began there, they had never had a worse than .585 winning percentage. They had just signed 24 year old Donovan Mitchell and 29 year old Rudy Gobert to long-term contracts. They had Bogdanovich, Conley, Oneal and Clarkson under contract. Only 3 or 4 NBA teams held more valuable assets.
Ainge said so himself: you don’t blow up a team with 2 superstars UNLESS you’re confident you can be better in a small number of seasons.
Ainge could have chosen to improve what was in place. You have to judge him for taking the other path.
And it takes extreme delusion to believe the Jazz were a true contender back then, or that Gobert was a “young superstar” at that time he was traded. It’s certainly fine to believe Ainge shouldn’t have blown things up regardless, but saying stuff like:
“At the beginning of year 3, 2 years after senselessly blowing up a perrenial contender, we can now say no modern GM, perhaps in any sport, has done a worse job than Ainge has in Utah”
Just makes you seem weird and obsessed. It’s another Davey J “Not trading Podz will somehow cost a non-contender multiple future titles” situation.
SheaGoodbye , I’m using Danny Ainge’s promise to judge him, not my opinion. IN 2022, AINGE PROMISED TO BE CONTENDING BY THIS 2024-2025 SEASON
The Jazz had just signed 2 young superstars on 4 year deals and had several other valuable assets.
Ainge COMMITTED to Utah fans that he could exchange these valuable assets for a team that would be better than the 2022 team by 2024-25. HE SAID TO HOLD HIM ACCOUNTABLE.
How many extra years do you propose giving Ainge for his rebuild?
BTW, Mitchell and Gobert are still playing on the contracts the last Utah GM signed them to. But who needs the services of 2 superstars for 3 years when you could be using that time for a rebuild?
I remember 90% of this board. Calling him a bust and he sucks…………. Hate to say I told you so
Oooooppps.
He’s not worth that much. But I’ll give it to him. Has great timing. Go get it young man.
IMO Spurs is a great place for him. If Pistons had basketballs. They would trade for him.