NBA trade rumors: Can the Warriors actually pry Lauri Markkanen away from the Jazz?

Klay Thompson is gone, and Golden State is trying to put the next iteration of its team together

By James Herbert Jul 3, 2024 at 4:52 pm ET• 3 min read

The Splash Brothers have split up, and the Golden State Warriors are trying to figure out what's next. The first move, reportedly, was picking up guard De'Anthony Melton on a one-year, $12.8 million contract (i.e. the non-taxpayer mid-level exception). Since then, they have reportedly landed forward Kyle Anderson in a sign-and-trade, and they are close to adding sharpshooter Buddy Hield the same way.

They're all nice complementary pieces, and Hield, 31, is the oldest of them. If you take the sentimental stuff out of the equation, swapping the 34-year-old Klay Thompson and 39-year-old Chris Paul for these three is an upgrade. The Warriors, however, would still like to acquire someone is more than a complementary piece.

How does Lauri Markkanen sound?

Golden State is "trying to be aggressive" on the trade market, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, and it is specifically targeting Markkanen, a 27-year-old forward who stands 7-feet tall, made the All-Star Game in 2023 and has averaged 24.5 points on 63.6% true shooting in two years with the Utah Jazz.

"Utah's not sure it wants to trade him, but they have to listen," Wojnarowski said on SportsCenter. "They've been listening. And a lot of the teams who lost out on Mikal Bridges from Brooklyn have transferred over to trying to see if they can land Lauri Markkanen out of Utah. Golden State is one of those teams."