Jazz star could have highly limited trade window

The Jazz haven't found a trade partner for All-Star Lauri Markkanen. But if they give him an extension this summer, his trade window next season will be extremely brief.

According to Marc Stein of his Substack, Utah could use its salary cap space to renegotiate Markkanen's $18M salary for next season, in order to give him a raise and an extension. That would give Markkanen more more immediately, and allow his next contract to start at 140 percent of that new salary number. His new deal could be effectively worth five years and about $235M.

Otherwise, Markkanen could only extend his deal for four years and $113M — big money, but less than an All-Star in his prime could get on the open market.

Markkanen, the NBA's Most Improved Player for the 2022-23 season, can't do a renegotiation and extension until Aug. 6, but the Jazz are highly incentivized to get it done fast. That's because Utah can't trade Markkanen for six months after such an extension, and the NBA's trade deadline for next season is Feb. 6: exactly six months away.

So if the Jazz decides they want to cash in on their Markkanen stock at mid-season, perhaps as part of a tanking effort for Cooper Flagg and the rest of the 2025 draft class, they'll have exactly one day to do it. And that's if they get the renegotiate-and-extended done the very first day they can, or they can't trade the seven-foot Finn until next summer.

That's the reason Markkanen is in so many trade rumors now. The Jazz have the flexibility to lock up Markkanen long-term, but they'll have to walk a tightrope in August and February if they want to keep him as a trade asset.