Golden State now remains one of the few teams most connected to a pursuit of acquiring Markkanen from Utah, according to league personnel.
The Jazz are indeed welcoming calls on Markkanen, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Perhaps Utah will ultimately exact a similar offseason to that of Brooklyn, where the Nets once envisioned adding star-level talent alongside Mikal Bridges before determining their best course of action was to enter a rebuild — thanks to a massive haul from New York. The Jazz, as previously reported at Yahoo Sports, were looking into trading for Bridges, held conversations with Atlanta about both Dejounte Murray and Trae Young, sources said, and were working to assemble a group around Markkanen that could have possibly drawn George’s eye.
This latest round of Markkanen trade conversations could very well just be the Jazz trying to gather information from interested teams, or an effort to solicit some kind of exorbitant offer akin to the five first-round picks, plus an additional unprotected pick swap from the Knicks for Bridges. The Jazz have so far indicated to various parties around the NBA they would still like to renegotiate and extend Markkanen when the two sides become eligible to do so in August, sources said, and that listening to offers for Markkanen is just part of doing good business.
That good business, though, leaves the door open just like Brooklyn did for Bridges to waltz across the East River. In addition to Golden State, Sacramento and San Antonio have been the two other teams characterized by league figures with knowledge of the situation as strong possible suitors for Markkanen at this point.
&nbsbp;
Jake Fischer in a QT:
This is good I think or bad if the spurs get him and wemby and Lauri just tower over everyone for ten years straight