[Sam Quinn] Warriors and Jazz probably have path to Lauri Markkanen trade, but what is the middle ground? “The Jazz want picks from a depleted Warriors team, not a young, renewed one built around Markkanen, Kuminga and Podziemski in their primes.”
July 17, 2024
[Sam Quinn] Warriors and Jazz probably have path to Lauri Markkanen trade, but what is the middle ground? “The Jazz want picks from a depleted Warriors team, not a young, renewed one built around Markkanen, Kuminga and Podziemski in their primes.”
19 comments
No shit, they want the warriors to be as bad as possible post-Steph. Meanwhile the warriors are gambling that their young guys they have can make up for giving up future picks. Jazz only get one or the other here.
>And yet, Charania said on [SiriusXM NBA Radio](https://x.com/SiriusXMNBA/status/1813038343518912918) on Monday that it was Podziemski, not Kuminga, that the Jazz are focused on. And, well, that makes sense. He’s a good player and a somewhat unique one. The guards aren’t supposed to rebound the way he does. He’s a crafty playmaker, and even if you’d probably rather see him shoot a few more 3’s, self-creation inside of the arc is a valuable skill and his floaters are a real weapon against drop-coverage. He profiles as something a bit closer to a good starter than the star Kuminga might max out as, but Kuminga’s range of outcomes is wider. That might not have meant as much two years ago as it does now.
>
>But this again takes us back to Utah’s incentive to see the Warriors struggle. Curry is owed two more years of super-max money. Markkanen is getting the max as well. Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green, together, more or less count as one super-max player themselves. Throw an expensive Kuminga extension into the mix and suddenly the Warriors are right back into the second apron territory they just ducked by letting [Klay Thompson](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/players/1647559/klay-thompson/) and [Chris Paul](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/players/555969/chris-paul/) go. To make matters worse, while the Warriors have ducked below the aprons this summer, they are still well above the luxury tax line.
>
>The Jazz want the Warriors to make difficult financial decisions in the coming years that ultimately make them worse. Kuminga is a clearer path to that outcome than Podziemski. They’d have only one year of overlap on a new Kuminga deal and the four other expensive ones they are currently paying, but there’s no guarantee that Curry would help them out by leaving money on the table in 2026 to keep this as a short-term concern. Curry has earned the right to dictate whatever price he wants. Even if he does take a pay cut, That team isn’t exactly cheap.
Markkanen, Kuminga and Podz is a great rebuild but there is almost no way that happens.
lol at anyone being scared of a Kuminga and pod team. Those two plus effing curry and draymond were just a lotto team.
i’ll say this, i still don’t see how markannen and kuminga play together. they’re both 4’s and not good at being 5’s or 3’s. markannen has a better fit on the warriors with steph and dray, since we need shooting and scoring. with that being the case, if the middle ground is to trade JK, then go for it.
Fuck you very much Danny Ainge.
Ainge pls have you looked at the western conference. Our picks are gonna be super high post-Steph years come on 😭
Jazz acting like they want the 15th pick next year
That is the reality of trading multiple unprotected picks for a star. You’re putting all your chips into the present and at the expense of 5-7 years down the road, while Utah is betting against you for that timespan. Hence it’s essential for us to keep at least one of Podz and Joku. If Ainge wants them, we take the picks off the table.
number of picks is the middle ground. they want 4 we want 1. 2 should get it done
Any other GM, I’d be more inclined to want a win-now move. But Ainge? Nah, fuck that. Let Lauri waste away on that roster and become disgruntled. If he is content to stay there, then he was never about winning
I think Money Mike will make the right call.
There is a middle ground… but it ain’t finding a Warriors team donating both the picks and the young guns.
Ainge is getting greedy tbh. Most organizations accept that you’d rather have four FRPs and a blank slate than anything else. The players in that KG-Pierce trade weren’t good. The picks were.
If you can’t turn 2 or 3 FRPs a year for 4 years into a winner behind your own high pick which if you are the worst team in the league is never lower than 5.
The problem is Danny himself doesn’t want the Jazz to ge terrible when they NEED to be terrible. He wants to reenact the Nets-Celtics trade and be a solid team all the while. He’s about to have the Pacers west… 30 years of mediocrity.
Love 34 to 42 wins. Love Danny Ainges Jazz.
joe lacob’s “irrational” comment on 95.7 give me hope that they wont seriously consider this dog-water trade
Utah doesn’t get its cake and eat it too. At this point the Dubs tried. Move on. See what’s available at the TDL, but the offer you gave them now is dead.
Utah is in a tricky situation as well since they don’t own their picks either. They need to be bad in order to keep their picks and draft players that actually make them a playoff team… or just roll with what they have, be mediocre lose the picks and do nothing I guess.
This is not worth it right like even without the picks I wouldn’t give up kuminga moody and podz for Lauri straight up.
> The Jazz want picks from a depleted Warriors team, not a young, renewed one built around Markkanen, Kuminga and Podziemski in their primes
I mean, let’s be honest, unless JK or Podz takes a real leap we are not talking about a core 3 that will be a guaranteed playoff team every year given how good the competition in the West is every year.
I made this comment on the nba sub about the warriors not wanting to trade Podz but it stands up here:
“Honestly, it makes sense to me. If we lose Podz, we’d have no ball handler that could run the second unit and it would put a lot more pressure on Steph and Dray.
Also commenting on Lauri, I think he’s getting wildly overrated right now when looking at the proposed trades. Lauri has never had a proper healthy season and had his two best years in a low stakes environment. There is no guarantee he’d be able to keep his production up as a second option in Golden State. I genuinely believe there’s a possibility that Kuminga can be better than him later this upcoming season. That being said, I think we still need to make a move. I’m looking at Kuzma right now, I think Washington would want the picks looking at where they are in their rebuild.”
19 comments
No shit, they want the warriors to be as bad as possible post-Steph. Meanwhile the warriors are gambling that their young guys they have can make up for giving up future picks. Jazz only get one or the other here.
>And yet, Charania said on [SiriusXM NBA Radio](https://x.com/SiriusXMNBA/status/1813038343518912918) on Monday that it was Podziemski, not Kuminga, that the Jazz are focused on. And, well, that makes sense. He’s a good player and a somewhat unique one. The guards aren’t supposed to rebound the way he does. He’s a crafty playmaker, and even if you’d probably rather see him shoot a few more 3’s, self-creation inside of the arc is a valuable skill and his floaters are a real weapon against drop-coverage. He profiles as something a bit closer to a good starter than the star Kuminga might max out as, but Kuminga’s range of outcomes is wider. That might not have meant as much two years ago as it does now.
>
>But this again takes us back to Utah’s incentive to see the Warriors struggle. Curry is owed two more years of super-max money. Markkanen is getting the max as well. Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green, together, more or less count as one super-max player themselves. Throw an expensive Kuminga extension into the mix and suddenly the Warriors are right back into the second apron territory they just ducked by letting [Klay Thompson](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/players/1647559/klay-thompson/) and [Chris Paul](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/players/555969/chris-paul/) go. To make matters worse, while the Warriors have ducked below the aprons this summer, they are still well above the luxury tax line.
>
>The Jazz want the Warriors to make difficult financial decisions in the coming years that ultimately make them worse. Kuminga is a clearer path to that outcome than Podziemski. They’d have only one year of overlap on a new Kuminga deal and the four other expensive ones they are currently paying, but there’s no guarantee that Curry would help them out by leaving money on the table in 2026 to keep this as a short-term concern. Curry has earned the right to dictate whatever price he wants. Even if he does take a pay cut, That team isn’t exactly cheap.
Markkanen, Kuminga and Podz is a great rebuild but there is almost no way that happens.
lol at anyone being scared of a Kuminga and pod team. Those two plus effing curry and draymond were just a lotto team.
i’ll say this, i still don’t see how markannen and kuminga play together. they’re both 4’s and not good at being 5’s or 3’s. markannen has a better fit on the warriors with steph and dray, since we need shooting and scoring. with that being the case, if the middle ground is to trade JK, then go for it.
Fuck you very much Danny Ainge.
Ainge pls have you looked at the western conference. Our picks are gonna be super high post-Steph years come on 😭
Jazz acting like they want the 15th pick next year
That is the reality of trading multiple unprotected picks for a star. You’re putting all your chips into the present and at the expense of 5-7 years down the road, while Utah is betting against you for that timespan. Hence it’s essential for us to keep at least one of Podz and Joku. If Ainge wants them, we take the picks off the table.
number of picks is the middle ground. they want 4 we want 1. 2 should get it done
Any other GM, I’d be more inclined to want a win-now move. But Ainge? Nah, fuck that. Let Lauri waste away on that roster and become disgruntled. If he is content to stay there, then he was never about winning
I think Money Mike will make the right call.
There is a middle ground… but it ain’t finding a Warriors team donating both the picks and the young guns.
Ainge is getting greedy tbh. Most organizations accept that you’d rather have four FRPs and a blank slate than anything else. The players in that KG-Pierce trade weren’t good. The picks were.
If you can’t turn 2 or 3 FRPs a year for 4 years into a winner behind your own high pick which if you are the worst team in the league is never lower than 5.
The problem is Danny himself doesn’t want the Jazz to ge terrible when they NEED to be terrible. He wants to reenact the Nets-Celtics trade and be a solid team all the while. He’s about to have the Pacers west… 30 years of mediocrity.
Love 34 to 42 wins. Love Danny Ainges Jazz.
joe lacob’s “irrational” comment on 95.7 give me hope that they wont seriously consider this dog-water trade
Utah doesn’t get its cake and eat it too. At this point the Dubs tried. Move on. See what’s available at the TDL, but the offer you gave them now is dead.
Utah is in a tricky situation as well since they don’t own their picks either. They need to be bad in order to keep their picks and draft players that actually make them a playoff team… or just roll with what they have, be mediocre lose the picks and do nothing I guess.
This is not worth it right like even without the picks I wouldn’t give up kuminga moody and podz for Lauri straight up.
> The Jazz want picks from a depleted Warriors team, not a young, renewed one built around Markkanen, Kuminga and Podziemski in their primes
I mean, let’s be honest, unless JK or Podz takes a real leap we are not talking about a core 3 that will be a guaranteed playoff team every year given how good the competition in the West is every year.
I made this comment on the nba sub about the warriors not wanting to trade Podz but it stands up here:
“Honestly, it makes sense to me. If we lose Podz, we’d have no ball handler that could run the second unit and it would put a lot more pressure on Steph and Dray.
Also commenting on Lauri, I think he’s getting wildly overrated right now when looking at the proposed trades. Lauri has never had a proper healthy season and had his two best years in a low stakes environment. There is no guarantee he’d be able to keep his production up as a second option in Golden State. I genuinely believe there’s a possibility that Kuminga can be better than him later this upcoming season. That being said, I think we still need to make a move. I’m looking at Kuzma right now, I think Washington would want the picks looking at where they are in their rebuild.”